Frost Forecast
by Tess 4 5
Summary: Just a few scenes in the middle of a case in the Cotswolds where the circumstances in London have brought them to. Lynley, Havers and Nkata finally have a case of murder to solve. Oh, and the telly has predicted a cold snap
1. Chapter 1 1 1

**Disclaimer:** I don't own any of the original characters nor the original Inspector Lynley Mysteries – they belong to Elizabeth George and the BBC. I have borrowed the characters from the TV-Show and only own the ideas of _my _stories.

Please write a **P**rivate** M**essage if you find any mistakes. Thanks!

Please read and review! More thanks!

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**Author's note and summary:** After a long period without writing I have written something that plays in winter. What could be best if you sit and sweat?! ;-)

Just a few scenes in the middle of a case in the Cotswolds where the circumstances in London have brought them to. Lynley, Havers and Nkata finally have a case of murder to solve. Oh, and the telly has predicted a cold snap. Enjoy...

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**Frost Forecast - Part I**

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"Here's the pathologist's report, Sarge!"

DS Barbara Havers groaned in annoyance, half about the "Sarge" and half about the extra work in the form of a manila folder DC Winston Nkata had tossed on her desk.

"Ta. How was the interview?"

"Not too bad. Ms Webb was quite talkative. A lot of gossip though."

"Gossip reveals a lot about small villages like this, Nkata." DI Tommy Lynley lectured. He did not even look up from his monitor when he added a softly muttered "Stop rocking, Barbara."

She groaned again but sat straight nonetheless. "It's just that I miss my good ol' office swivel armchair, Sir. These are bloody immobile _kitchen chairs_!"

Lynley only smiled. Going to his own desk Nkata grinned broadly. He loved hearing them bicker like this.

Since the old building of New Scotland Yard was brought down and there was a major pipe burst in their new home office all Met officers of their department were spread to other offices across London and some were even sent to villages somewhere else. Angry to be treated like they were not one of the best teams and always hoping to be summoned back to some big city crime.

In distant villages like this, here in the AONB of the Cotswolds, where the little team of DI Lynley, DS Havers and DC Nkata was deployed to, big crimes seldomly happened. Although they were based in some sort of market town it was of course nothing compared with London, so after several minor thefts and countless pub incidents they were happy that poor farmer Marston was found dead in his hay barn a bit outside of the main and more densly built-up area. They did not even feel very guilty for their thoughts.

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For a little while before he had to start his typing Winston watched his superiors. Oblivious to their audience they exchanged some glances. Tommy looked amused and a bit empathetic and Barbara's eyes sent out a playfully suffering gaze back with a hint of gratefulness that she had to endure all this together with him. Winston saw it clearly.

'They are so in love.' he thought and harrumphed. Then he finally put on an earpiece and began typing the interview. Their Super Intendent wanted to read every little piece of progress to get a distraction from the beautiful view across the Thames.

* * *

A little later Barbara audibly yawned. It was nearly six and outside the police station it was getting dark. The night shifters PC Jenny Gould and PCSO Mick Warren already had arrived. Gould was in the kitchen and prepared a snack and Warren had left again to walk a round with his dog.

"I think I'll call it a day." Barbara murmured. "There's not a single bit of conspicuousness in the Marston's history. All sheep and hay. It's annoying."

"Yes, we're almost done here." Lynley got up and stretched his back. He put on his jacket and grabbed his padded coat. "Look, I've found some interesting inconsistencies in Larsson's statement and I want to have a few answers from him as soon as possible." He nodded towards the DC. "Don't wait for us, Winston, we'll see you in the morning. We'll start at about seven o'clock."

Nkata nodded. They had an early appointment with the vicar who would leave for Scotland tomorrow morning.

"Oh, nooo..." Barbara wailed. She knew that her boss had read reports about their main suspect and now she feared there was no after work pint anywhere near.

"Yes, I'm sorry, but we have to drive to Willow's Weep again." Lynley helped her on with her coat. Nkata suppressed another grin. "It's just a ten minutes drive-"

"Twenty in your old car, Sir." He gave her a glare for this.

"And I don't intend to stay there for long. Just ask a few questions and leave. We'll be back before seven and I'll take you out to the best restaurant in town afterwards. Is that a deal?"

"Oh, yay!" Her voice dripped of sarcasm. "Bangers'n'mash at the Queen's Quill."

"They also serve a nice steak and ale pie. Or would you prefer the Moon Inn? They have fish'n'chips night tonight. And a quiz afterwards."

Nkata did not hear the words Barbara replied but the tone appeared rather annoyed. He chuckled.

* * *

PC Jenny Gould pulled one of the chairs closer to Winston's desk and smiled when she sat down. "They bicker a lot, don't they?"

"Hm? Oh, yes, they're always like that."

"There has to be a lot of private stuff going on between them if a DI tolerates that his Sergeant talks with him the way she does."

"What do you mean?" Winston narrowed his eyes.

Jenny smiled dreamily. "I know they would never admit it but I'm very positive that they're..." She blushed a bit and Winston melted. He had come to like Jenny very much and even a little bit more. Maybe one day he would accept to be transferred here. If only London would not be so far away. He must have shaken his head slightly because the PC frowned. "Sorry. It's none of my business. It's just that they appear like an old couple sometimes."

Nkata leant back in his chair and stared pensively at the police woman of his age. He decided to end his work now and have a little chat with the red head. "Somehow they are." he admitted. "But..."

"But not officially for sure."

"Not at all in fact." Nkata sighed. "They just have lived through so many things in their lifes together."

"I've heard that he is an aristocrat?"

He nodded. "The eighth Earl of Asherton. Cornish. But he doesn't shout it from the rooftops."

"And why does he work at the Met?"

"It's his destiny." Winnie gave a short laugh. "Well, I'm sure there are a lot of other reasons but the main probably is that he loves to do what he does. Decreasing crime, chasing criminals, putting a bit of justice into the world. Barb... umm... DS Havers shares most of his views."

"I was just about to ask what they have in common. I mean, she doesn't seem to be one of the posh officers, nor does she appear as if she wants to follow Cressida Dick."

They both laughed. "No, not at all. She would have to stop working with him."

Jenny pushed a small box with sweets towards Winston. Some seconds were filled with rustling paper and munching teeth.

"I bet she would not want that at all."

"No. She's too much in..." He stopped as if it was forbidden to say it aloud but when he cautiously looked at her, Jenny smiled.

"And he loves her just the same." she gently said. Winston sighed relieved. Let it be romantical glorification that made Jenny see it but she was right anyway. "How come that an Earl and a West End girl are so at ease with each other?"

"As I said, they've lived through a lot together in those twelve years, or is it thirteen already? It's such a long time they are partnered."

"Go tell." Jenny took a Malteser and winked. "Mick won't be back for the next half hour."

"Do you ever eat healthy stuff? I only see you munching sweets and chocolate."

She laughed freely. "I have a lamb and tomato sandwich and a salad in the fridge but nothing but chocolate goes better with a good love story."

"But this one still has no happy end." Nkata frowned.

"Do you know that?"

He sighed nodding his head. "I'm pretty sure."

"Tell me all about it."

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	2. Chapter 2 1 2

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"Tell me all about it."

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"Right..." For a while Winston only thought back to when he had joined the team. Then he began talking. "I wasn't in the department when they met but Barb has told me a lot. We've had one or the other evening at the pub after work, you know. In the beginning they both weren't really happy about being partnered. I can understand both sides. She was rather spiky, clumsy, an angry woman who had too many bad experiences in the male dominated world of London's police as well as with her family. And he was - in her words - the poncy upstart: moody but the heartthrob of almost every woman in the Met."

"Well, he doesn't look too bad."

Nkata raised an eyebrow. "If you say so..."

"He's not my cup of tea though."

They grinned at each other before Winston went on.

"After some time, and some fights and disagreements, they finally found a way to work together. They solved a lot of crimes. They got involved with each other's private lifes eventually. He supported her when she lost her parents, he helped her getting on with her life after she was shot." Jenny's eyes went wide. "She was a guest to his engagement party, I think she even was the initial that brought Lynley and his wife together. Although he was a pain in the arse after his wife was shot dead."

A heartfelt "No!" escaped Jenny's mouth.

"Barb helped him to find back to his feet after the funeral. It took him a long time and he had left the Met for quite a while. When he wasn't drinking himself half dead he slid from affair to affair with several women until he even was accidentally involved in a major crime."

"What?!"

"He was in the wrong place at the wrong time and probably completely inebriated. And when he was arrested Barb was almost the only person who believed in his innocence."

"What has happened?"

"His companion through the night, a witness in a case, was found dead in front of his house. Almost everything spoke against him. It's a wonder he got through this without any harm but a note in his personal records."

"Wow. The merits of being an Earl?"

"Pure luck and Barbara's brilliant police work."

"You like working with her, huh?"

"I like working with both. I've learned an awful lot. Next month I'll try to pass my exams to become a Sergeant. Finally."

"What about Sergeant Havers? Why is she still no DI?"

Winston laughed out loud. "To be forced to stop working with Lynley? Never. Although she would make a great team leader."

"And which team would you choose?"

"None. They'd both be unbearable without the other."

"Whoohoo - that bad?"

Nkata grinned and shut down his computer. "Worse. But together they're unbeatable. If you can cope with their constant bickering and teasing and arguing, that is."

"But they're not really fighting, are they?"

"Well, sometimes it does sound like they'd never find any agreement at all. They shout at each other in his office, she comes out and slams the door. Then they're fuming until they have thought about it - or one is missing the other - and the dance begins again. It can be annoying sometimes. There are days I just want to bang their heads together and tell them what they _obviously_ feel for each other."

"Let me guess - they're just 'good friends'..."

Nkata nodded and stared at his black monitor for a few seconds. "But recently they're spending a lot of time together. So much actually that Barb probably has torn down one of her defence walls and started to call him by his given name. I'm not 100 percent sure but I suppose so because she sometimes let it slip in the office when they're deep in a conversation. She usually blushes in shock and he always gives her a certain smile he never gives to anybody else."

"Oh, that's cute!" Jenny whispered. "And do you know what they're doing in their private time?"

"You're a bit nosy, aren't you?" Winston said it with a wink.

"Yes." Jenny chuckled. "I am."

"Mh, I don't know exactly but some events were rather obvious. It started with almost regular dinners, not just the odd pint after work. I guess they're doing this and that, drive to Kent for an ice cream, or some oysters, have a walk in the zoo with his god son. Meet his sister when she's in town, or go to Ascot for some races. Not the big ones of course - I can't imagine Barbara wearing a fancy hat." Jenny laughed again. "But they also have been to the theatre - it must've been some opera because the next day Barbara constantly whistled that certain tune." Winston pursed his lips and whistled a melody.

"Oh, that's a funny love story!"

"Exactly." Now his grin was a bit juicier than it should be. "And one day she had dragged him to a football match. Can you imagine his Lordship in a stadium?"

Again Jenny had to laugh loudly. "Oh, no. Poor man! Who played?"

"Spurs versus Arsenal. Lynley favourited the Spurs. In the coffee kitchen our colleagues Saunders and Ellingham debated weather it was a penalty or not and Lynley chimed in with _'It was clearly _not _in the box. The referee was blind.'_" Nkata had tried to imitate the DI's voice and the attempt elicited a fit of giggles from Jenny. "Imagine: not _in the box_! And to top it all: this summer Barbara has spent a long weekend in his estate in Cornwall. Nanrunnel, the village close by, had its school break fair, something he organises, and she attended it together with his family."

Now Jenny whistled approvingly. "And they still keep their distance?"

"Of course. It's a pain. They still won't step across that last line."

"What a pity. They'd be such a nice couple. And nowadays it wouldn't be too strictly forbidden in the force, would it?"

A voice came from the doorway. "What wouldn't be forbidden in the force?" It was PC Warren. "That the guv would lay his Sarge?"

Jenny quietly groaned rolling her eyes.

"Mind your words, Officer Warren!" Winston got up from his chair. "You're not speaking about them in such a manner. And it's Detective Inspector Lynley for you, and Sergeant Havers. Is that understood?"

"Calm down, Nkata. They're not holy. They most certainly have it-"

"Shut! Up!"

Winston looked at the taller officer in a way that would have cracked rocks. Even the dog preferred to lie down under one of the desks.

"Okay, okay. Easy, cowboy!" Warren shook his head with a distinctively ironic expression. "Coffee anyone?"

"No, thank you, I'll be off in a bit." Nkata answered through gritted teeth. Jenny laid a calming hand on his arm. She had understood that Nkata loved his superiors and would beat respect into every one else who spoke against them.

She shook her head and answered with a calm voice. "Thank you, Mick, but you know I have my nettle tea."

When Mick was in the coffee kitchen she grabbed Winston's jumper and pulled his face down to hers to give him a peck on his cheek. "Have a good night, Winnie. Don't bother his foul mouth." She added a whispered "He's just a rude farm boy in a uniform." and winked before she went to the desk Barbara had used half an hour ago. "Put on your scarf, Winnie, it's finally winter."

"Haven't they predicted the frost for tomorrow?"

"Do you believe the telly or a farmer's daughter?" she laughed.

With the tickling feeling of Jenny's lips on his cheeks Winston had a wonderful night in the worn out bed in his room while a soft snow was falling, covering the beautiful village with a thin layer of snow.

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	3. Chapter 3 1 3

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In the morning everything was white and it had turned distinctively colder than the day before. Winston unlocked the office with fingers so cold from the short walk here that he almost could not hold the keys. He cursed himself for forgetting his gloves in his hotel room. The night shifters had left at about four and Lynley and Havers were expected at seven o'clock. He had one hour of silent work ahead. He had to catch up on what went down in the conversation with Jenny yesterday evening. Surprisingly he was done with his work after 45 minutes and decided to make some coffee. When Barbara would arrive she would love to instantly have a mug of the black brew.

[ _I've made coffee :-D_ ] he texted Barbara when PC Robert Dawson arrived.

There was still enough time for Winston to go to the bakery next door and get some croissants and then have a cup of coffee himself. He cleaned his desk and prepared the white board and the files. Only then he checked his mobile for an answer but there was none.

'They sleep in...' he thought and chuckled by the image of Jenny whispering a juicy suggestion about why. Then he typed another message to his Sergeant.

Ten minutes later, it was twenty minutes past seven o'clock, Dawson wondered aloud where the guvs were. "Have they been to the pub yesterday? Where are they?"

"As far as I know they had wanted to pay another visit to Larsson at Willow's Weep and then have dinner. I don't think they stayed out late for a pint."

"Or two, or three."

"We're in the middle of a case, Bobby!" Nkata looked reproachfully at his colleague.

"Just saying. Should I call them?"

"No, I'll ring Barbara."

When Barbara did not answer the phone - instead it went straight to voicemail - Dawson grinned almost as juicily as Warren had last evening. "Try Lynley's number. Maybe she forgot to switch it on after waking up." he said chuckling.

Winston rolled his eyes but dialled Lynley's number nonetheless. There also was no answer but Lynley's stoic voice instantly asking the caller to leave a message. The spark of hope flickered that yesterday evening something _very_ nice had happened between them after dinner because usually Lynley would not turn off his mobile phone during a case. In actual fact, nor would Barbara. It was rather unusual for both. He looked at his watch.

"Let's give them time until a quarter to eight. I'm pretty sure they'll be here by then."

"And full of false excuses."

"Oh, Dawson, stop it." But Winston also had to grin now.

* * *

To fill the time with something useful DC Nkata and PC Dawson went through the files again so it was no wonder that they only checked time when it was almost eight o'clock. Lynley and Havers still did not answer the phone and they had not called yet so Winston finally got up and took his coat.

"Cancel the appointment with the vicar, Bobby. I'll go to their B&B and knock them out of bed." he grumbled. "And you should try to stop thinking aloud!"

His colleague's loud laughter followed him when he went outside.

* * *

It was just a five minutes walk from the police station to the B&B.

"Morning, Miss. I'm here to pick up my colleagues."

"Morning, Sir." The young woman behind the counter nodded and yawned plainly. "I haven't seen them today. But it's quite early still, isn't it?"

"We had an appointment. I think they're still in their rooms. Could you tell me which they have?" Nkata produced his warrant card to emphasise that the B&B employee should not even think about declining.

They knocked once and twice and called Barbara's name but there was no answer. Lynley's room was right next to hers but there was no answer either.

"Hm..." Nkata frowned.

"Maybe they've left early?"

"I can't reach them on their phones." Just to check it Winston rang them again but there was no answer and not even a ring inside. "Could you please unlock the doors?"

"I don't think I'm allowed to-"

"Miss, they've gone missing. We were supposed to meet at seven. They're usually not late and if so they give a ring. I just want to make sure they don't lie dead in their beds."

The young woman blanched and fidgeted for her keys.

The beds in both rooms were untouched.

"Oi!" Winston suppressed a curse. There was no sign of his superiors and no sign that they have been here in the night at all. Fortunately there also was no sign that someone had broken in and kidnapped them.

"Oh, what a horrible thought!" the girl cried out. Winston had spoken his last idea loudly.

"Do you have a car park?"

"Just behind the building. Let me lead the way."

His old classic car was not there. By the untouched white cover of the empty parking area they could tell they had moved the car before it had begun to snow yesterday evening.

Winston immediately called PC Dawson. "Dawson, they're gone. Haven't been at their B&B at all in the night. Get the Landrover, and wait for me. I'll be there in five minutes. We have to drive to Willow's Weep. Oh, and get your arms and armour. I don't know if Larsson has a rifle and I don't want to get impaled by his hay fork either."

It was ten past eight and the sun was not yet seen.

* * *

It was good that PC Dawson drove the car. He knew the streets and Winston probably would have driven with unhealthy speed. They were _his_ superiors. And he knew how easily both could get themselves into trouble. Winston knew he would have raced up the hills, no matter how slippery the sleet covered streets were. Fortunately Dawson did not give the impression that he was trying to drive too carefully in the twilight. Slowly the sun was creeping up and it was getting a bit brighter outside.

The higher they got the higher the snow was. They passed several pylons that had toppled down. Winston guessed that it had happened due to wet and heavy snow on the cables plus the heavy storm that even had howled around the corners ofthe hotel down in the village. They came through an abandoned barn and crossed a small bridge.

"We're almost there." Bobby said.

"Oi!" Winston cried out when he suddenly was pressed forward into the safety belt. "Couldn't you-"

Then he stopped short. In the cone of the Landrover's lights they could see an old, dark red car, completely covered in white, its tyres slightly hidden under snow drifts.

"Bugger!" Winnie cursed. Before Dawson was able to stop the engine Winnie's seatbelt was unlocked and he had jumped out of the door. Seeing that it was empty he almost ran past Lynley's car and a few yards up the driveway. Only when he came around the edge of some scrubs he slowed his pace. He could see the house and there was no light on. Two steps further and he froze on the spot. His eyes went wide in shock.

* * *

When he had seen the empty snow covered car he had expected everything. His mind had been racing. He had expected to find them frozen. He had expected to see Larsson running around with a rifle. He had expected to find a blood trace in the white snow and the sharp spikes of a hay fork sticking in the cold body of one of them.

But what he saw there now boggled his mind. Winston had not expected to see this!

For a couple of moments he simply stared at the scene before he turned on his heels and quickly stepped back. He saw his colleague coming closer. Bobby still nestled at his gun proof vest while he walked quickly up the driveway.

"He, Bobby!" Winston shouted very loudly when he was safely behind the scrubs and out of sight. "Hurry up!"

He briefly informed his colleague that there were no lights on in the cottage. Before he went around the bushes again he stopped once more and inhaled deeply.

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	4. Chapter 4 2 1

**A/N:** Well, let's step back in time and see what the missing couple had experienced...

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**Frost Forecast - Part II**

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"Here's the pathologist's report, Sarge!"

Barbara groaned. It was annoying. Winston still mocked her with calling her "Sarge" and she really disliked the extra work he had tossed onto her desk. Nonetheless she nodded politely.

"Ta. How was the interview?"

"Not too bad. Ms Webb was quite talkative. A lot of gossip though."

"Gossip reveals a lot about small villages like this, Nkata." Of course Tommy would say something like this. He sometimes could foresee it himself. Out of the corner of his eyes he saw Barbara rocking on her chair. It had been predictable too. She had voiced her discomfort with the low quality furniture before. He smiled before he softly tried to prevent her from hurting herself. "Stop rocking, Barbara."

She groaned again. "It's just that I miss my good ol' office swivel armchair, Sir. These are bloody immobile _kitchen chairs_!"

Lynley smiled and shot a glance at Barbara. She did not look at him but smiled likewise. By mutual consent it was their habit to constantly bicker. He loved it and knew that their teasing was a sign of affection. When he tonelessly chuckled about his thought she looked up for a brief moment and expressed her suffering in a playfully exaggerated way. Tommy felt for her but apart from that their silent exchange amused him a lot. The gratefulness she barely hid and the the hint of a wink made his heart skip a beat.

It was a great fortune that they were sent here, now that they had no office at London for a while.

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A little later Barbara audibly yawned. She peeped onto her watch. It was nearly six. When she looked out of the huge window she could see that it was getting dark already. PC Jenny Gould, a police woman Winnie quite liked, and PCSO Mick Warren, an officer he rather disliked, already had arrived. Gould rummaged about in the kitchen and Warren was on the beat with his dog. Or just out for a pint.

"I think I'll call it a day." Barbara murmured pushing the keyboard away from her. "There's not a single bit of conspicuousness in the Marstons' history. All sheep and hay. It's annoying."

"Yes, we're almost done here." Lynley stood. His bones were tired, from age and from working so long in front of the computer, so he stretched his back. Barbara's eyes followed him when he put on his jacket and grabbed her anorak from the hook. "Look, I've found some interesting inconsistencies in Larsson's statement and I want to have a few answers from him as soon as possible. Don't wait for us, Winston, we'll see you in the morning. We'll start at about seven o'clock."

Nkata nodded. From the face he drew Tommy could tell that the Constable was still not overly happy about the appointment with the vicar tomorrow in the early morning.

"Oh, nooo..." Barbara wailed. The nice pint after work disappeared in the distance. She thought she knew what her boss had on his mind and she was right.

"Yes, I'm sorry, but we have to drive to Willow's Weep again." When Lynley helped her on with her anorak she felt his hands resting on her shoulders for some seconds too long. He did it very often recently. Little signs of their closeness she had begun to enjoy. It felt so natural. She even almost leant back into his chest but then she caught a glimpse of Nkata's forcedly straight face. Was he observing her? Tommy shook her out of her brief reverie with an encouraging pat on her upper arm. "It's just a ten minutes drive-"

She knew they never would make it in such a short time. "Twenty in your old car, Sir."

With a small smile Tommy shook his head. He had a brilliant idea. "And I don't intend to stay there for long. Just ask a few questions and leave. We'll be back before seven and I'll take you out to the best restaurant in town afterwards. Is that a deal?"

"Oh, yay!" Her voice dripped of sarcasm. Tommy's heart almost fell but one look into her face calmed him. She did not seem to be disappointed at all. "Bangers'n'mash at the Queen's Quill." He knew it was one of her favourite meals.

"They also serve a nice steak and ale pie. Or would you prefer the Moon Inn? They have fish'n'chips night tonight. And a quiz afterwards."

They were in the corridor already when Barbara answered. "Oh, what a nice prospect!" she grumbled. "Another opportunity for you to wave with your super class education."

"Don't simulate stupidity, Barbara." Walking towards the exit he squeezed her shoulders. "You have a brilliant mind. And who could be a better one to answer all the celebrity gossip questions? Not to mention football knowledge and pop music!"

He kept his arm around her shoulders until he had to open the door for her.

* * *

Barbara had been right. The drive on narrow streets up to the cottage of their suspect was not easy in the twilight of a winter's evening. It also was not really dry. Every curve and every hidden dip was a challenge for Tommy's driving abilities and that a harsh wind had started to blow did not make it any easier when they were leaving the shelter from the wind where hedges or walls suddenly ended. It was a difficult drive on the wet street.

"Do you think Winston would like to stay here?" Lynley asked out of the blue. He had thought about the differences between London and the rural Cotswolds for a while.

Barbara could not follow. "Why should he?"

"Well..." When she looked across to him she saw a grin. Of course he kept his eyes on the road. "I can't imagine Jenny to move to London."

"Oh. Oh, yes, you mean that." She laughed. "They are so cute together but they have to recognise it first."

"Recognise?" He chuckled. "That they're...cute?!"

"That they're attracted to each other." She rolled her eyes.

"He's a detective. He will find out." Tommy grinned and shot a winking glance at her.

Barbara bit her lip. "Ah, well, yes." She kept her eyes on the street ahead but in the corner of her eye she saw Tommy looking at her again for a few seconds. "Oh, the driveway is there, after we've passed the oak, isn't it?" Barbara asked. They had just passed an abandoned farm barn and she was holding the door handle constantly.

Tommy quietly sighed. "Not this one. We haven't passed the small creek yet." He turned his full attention back onto the road. "Look! There's the oak you've meant. With the sharp bend and that extraordinarily high stone wall. I'm glad the street isn't so narrow right there."

"It's called a passing place, Sir." She chuckled. Of course she knew that he knew it.

"I know that, Barbara." he said. "Nonetheless-"

[BANG! BANG!]

Tommy immediately lost control over his car. Although not very fast, it slid across the other side of the street (or call it a passing place), the right set of tyres jolted over stones and grass for a second and when the dark red metal hit the rough stones of the wall there was a very nasty crunching sound.

And then there was silence.

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	5. Chapter 5 2 2

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The silence lasted for a couple of seconds.

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After that short moment of shock Barbara slid away from the handbrake where she had landed and unfastened her seatbelt.

"Was this a shot?" she asked full of panic, trying to make something out in the darkness. Then her anxious eyes went to Tommy. Barbara audibly exhaled her held breath when she saw him moving and heard him cursing.

"Oh, bloody hell! Ouch!" Massaging his right arm he looked over to Barbara. His voice was full of real concern. "Are you okay, Barbara?"

She nodded. "Yes. Only my heart is racing. And you?"

Before he answered Tommy tested the mobility of his arm. "Quite okay, maybe a bruise."

"What was _that_?"

"It didn't really sound like a shot. More like..." He lifted a hand to call for silence.

[FFFFFFF]

Simultaneously they both groaned in annoyance. Barbara hid her face in the palm of her hand. "Oh, yeah. Just what I've hoped for. Do you have a spare tyre in your boot?"

She earned a stern look from Lynley. "Move over, please, I can't get out on my side."

Despite the situation Barbara had to laugh. The sight of him laboriously climbing across handbrake and gearstick with his long legs was too funny. Getting out of the car he brought a battery torch from the glove compartment.

It helped to see clearly that on the left side of the car both tyres were completely flat. Looking closer they could see the sharp end of a glass bottle bottom still sticking in one.

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"Oh, fuck!" Barbara cursed. Grabbing Tommy's arm she directed the light beam towards the street. "These were placed there on purpose." she commented the broken bottle bottoms there. It was just the bottoms and no other shards.

Tommy raked a hand through his hair. "Well, let's call for help and then we'll walk the last few yards to the cottage. It's quite cool up here."

"That's an understatement, Sir." Barbara groaned and kicked the shards off the street. She dialled Winston's number. Only after she did not hear anything she really looked onto her mobile. Then she cursed again.

"I have no signal."

"Me neither." Lynley sighed deeply. He placed his hand in the small of her back. "Come on. Let's meet Larsson. We can use his landline phone."

DS Havers only gave a disapproving grunt in response. She repeated it when they rounded the edge of some huge scrubs. "There are no lights. He's not at home, I bet."

Lynley better kept his mouth shut but gnashed his teeth.

* * *

With the help of the little battery torch they found a small slippery footpath towards the cottage. There the motion sensor turned on a lantern above the entrance. They knocked at the door and they rang the bell several times but nobody answered. They looked through the window and lit up the rooms behind the pane but there was still no sign of Larsson.

"He's gone." Lynley stated through gritted teeth while they walked around the small building where the wind was blowing even harder.

"Mh." Barbara lifted a flower pot with a dry plant.

"I don't think he'll leave a key for us so obviously, Havers."

"You'll never know..." She took the battery torch from him and, missing the look he gave her when their hands had brushed, looked for another good place. "I don't want to _wait_ for help out here so we need his telephone. Ha!"

Above a window on the backside of the house there was a half rotten pack of cigarettes held in place by a stone. A rusty lighter and a completely filled ashtray, clearly there through some days of bad weather, stood on the outer window sill below it. Barbara stretched to reach up but she was too short.

Tommy had to chuckle. "You're not falling back to bad behaviour, Barbara, are you?" She only snorted. "If you promise you won't-"

"Ah, bollocks. Get it down here." Only after two seconds she added a polite "Please."

To their great relief there really was a key in the otherwise empty cigarette package.

"Disappointed?" Tommy teased her.

"Not at all, Sir. Most certainly I wouldn't want to stand out here in the cold wind and have a fag."

* * *

Inside they made clear that they were the police before they carefully inspected all the rooms but Larsson indeed was not there. Nobody was there. The cottage was empty. It was completely empty. There was not even a single sign that it was inhabitated at all.

"He's taken all his clothes." To avoid too many fingerprints Lynley had gingerly opened a wardrobe in the bedroom only to find it empty. "He's definitely not here anymore."

"Or maybe he wasn't here at all. At least not for a long stay. It's quite cool in here as if he hadn't turned on the heat for longer than our earlier visit. And the last days were rather cold, weren't they?"

"That would explain why the bed seemed untouched for days or even longer. And very skillfully made, if I may say so."

Barbara raised her eyebrows. She tested the layer of dust on the rim of the night table. "Dusty. As if he had left the cottage and lived somewhere else. Cleaned professionally a little while ago."

"He could have planned to let or sell it." Meanwhile they had reached the ground floor again. Tommy pointed at the telephone. "Let's make the call and wait for help in the living room."

"Yeah, I'll turn on the heat. I'm starting to frvorhan- Oh hell, what now?!"

The lamp at the ceiling had flickered briefly. Then it went out. Immediately Lynley turned on the battery torch and searched the distribution board in the hall. "It's certainly just the fuse." he appeased.

But it was not the fuse that had tripped. There was no light anymore and the landline telephone gave no signal either. Tommy supposed that the heating system probably would not work without electricity either. It made Barbara groan in annoyance and pull up the zipper of her anorak. She plunked into the sofa and checked if there was a signal on her mobile phone at least.

"Oh, shit!"

"Yes, I still have none on mine."

"Oh, bugger! A long walk in the night, in the cold, all the way down to the village?" she grumbled. "I'm hungry, Sir."

DI Lynley looked out of the window. "I don't think it's scheduled to walk home, Barbara."

"Yeah, and why not?"

* * *

Instead of giving her an answer he simply pointed out of the window with his chin. Only when she stood next to him and saw it herself, and when he could see her shoulders fall, he put his hand on her arm and squeezed it softly. "Not with the snow storm outside." Tommy murmured.

"That's why it has turned so cold so quickly while we've inspected the house." Barbara sadly stated. "Wasn't the low on forecast for tomorrow evening? Earliest?"

"I think it's already here and I fear that we have to wait until it's getting better."

"Be honest, Tommy, you don't believe that we're walking back to the village in the night, do you?"

"No." His voice was as quiet as hers. They both stared into the darkness outside. Masses of snowflakes flew by, driven sideways by a harsh wind.

"No chance that there's an inhabited farm anywhere near?" There was no hope in Barbara's voice.

"I'm afraid no." Tommy got closer to the window pane and looked outside to see if there were any signs of light. "I don't know where the next farm is, how far it is and I can't see any lights. I guess they all have no electricity at the moment."

"F... Ah, bugger!"

"So, we should stay in here."

Barbara sighed deeply.

* * *

For a while they just watched the snow falling and listened to the sound of a strong wind growing stronger.

"Perhaps someone comes along..." she said still without hope.

"Hm. I'm afraid, nobody would accidentally come across." They both knew it would not happen. It was a long dead end road that only led to the old unpeopled barn and further on to the isolated cottage and after Willow's Weep there only was a gravel track running through some sheep fields. Not even Winston would miss them because they had told him they would meet again only in the morning.

"We could go back to the car." Barbara suggested. "Turn on its heater."

"It will only last for a while and I don't intend to let the tank run dry. Also I think it's warmer in here. Wait, I'll light the fire." Before caring for that he lit a candle on the coffee table. The flickering light was almost cosy.

"Do you at least have something edible in your car?" Barbara's stomach had rumbled loudly. Her last meal was hours ago and by now it was time for dinner. She watched him searching for more wood than just the three little logs that were artfully arranged next to the little fireplace. His face was grim. Barbara sighed again and turned away. "I'll have a look in the kitchen."

Tommy got up. "Yes, and I'll try to find more wood in that little shed next to the cottage."

* * *

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	6. Chapter 6 2 3

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* * *

When he came back with just a handful of logs and an oil-operated storm lantern he found Barbara staring blankly into the dark living room. She had stuffed her hands deeply into the pockets of her jacket. Tommy placed the logs near the still cold fireplace and carefully closed all the doors.

"We have to use these wisely." he sighed. He was not overly happy with the situation. "There are no more logs, nor any coal, and we shouldn't heat the rest of the house with the little amount of wood. Did you find something to eat?"

Barbara shook her head. "Just a pack of salt, half a glass of instant coffee and an old can with beans in tomato sauce in the back of a cabinet."

He groaned. "Expired?"

She nodded. "Since 1973! But it's not too rusty. We could sell it at the antiques fair."

"Haha! Yes, we could. Here." Tommy lifted a plastic bag. "I have a few mini Mars bars and three bananas."

"Huh?" She quizzically looked at him. She had not seen him eating at the office at all, not even some sweets, and they both always were together at every lunch and every dinner during their stay in that village.

"I tend to need a snack before going to bed." In the dim light of the candle she could see his lopsided smile.

"Oh, a sweet tooth..." Barbara pulled a pack of Maltesers out of the pocket of her jacket and they shared a gentle smile for a couple of seconds while she waved the pack through the air. "Oh, and I found a few candles." She waved her other hand with a pack of long candles.

"Nice. Have you checked if the water is still running?"

"It is."

"At least!"

* * *

It was clear that they would not get back home so soon. In order to make their nightly stay in the cottage as comfortable as possible they closed the old-fashioned wooden inner shutters of the windows and only opened the doors if absolutely necessary. Tommy had lit only three logs so the fire gave just a little warmth, but since the thermometer outside had said -1°C and the temperature probably would fall even lower in the night, it was better than nothing. In the kitchen Barbara had filled two jars with some water and brought them to the slightly warmer living room.

"I don't want to drink ice cold water from the tap." she explained. "I'm cold enough."

In silence and wrapped into woollen blankets which had laid on the sofa they ate their minimalistic dinner. If it was not for the inconvenient situation one could call it romantic due to the candles on the mantlepiece and the coffee table. A very small fire was crackling.

After a while Barbara started to play a little stupid game on her mobile phone. Tommy only watched the flames flickering. He had his arm on the backrest of the sofa and absentmindedly caressed her shoulder with his fingertips while his mind orbited around their case. At first Barbara was nervous about it but eventually she forgot his hand and it became normal.

No wonder that she startled when he suddenly asked what time it was. She checked it on her mobile.

"A quarter to eight." she groaned. "Time doesn't go by..."

"You should stop playing to save energy." Tommy suggested.

Barbara deeply sighed and he smiled at her understandingly.

"We might need it later." He squeezed her shoulder. "You never know what else will happen tonight!"

* * *

A lot of possibilities flashed through her mind. Her face was blushing and so she hid it while laboriously putting away her phone. "I've switched it into flight modus. Otherwise it would search for a signal all the time."

"Oh, that's a good idea."

"I want to go back to London." she mumbled.

He sighed. "But we have a case to solve here."

This made Barbara frown. "Yeah, and then another pub rowdy..."

Tommy laughed and caressed her shoulder. "No, probably not. I had a nice phone call today. They have repaired most of the damage in our office and only have to refurbish the department. It won't be long until we can get back home to London."

Sighing deeply relieved, Barbara let her head fall back against Tommy's arm. "Oh, that's great news. When had you planned on telling me?"

"Over a nice pint of ale."

They looked at each other. Both were sad that it had not come to it. Dinner at one of the local pubs had become a beloved evening routine and they enjoyed each other's company a lot, sometimes even with a pint after dinner.

"At least I have your company." he quietly said.

"Mhm." Silently confirming that she shared his joy Barbara held his gaze for a few seconds before she had to avert it and change the subject. "How can one live up here without any mobile signal?"

He gave a short laugh. "I thought we agreed that he hadn't lived here at all? At least not for some time anymore." This was not exactly the direction he had wanted to steer the conversation.

"But still... I've not even seen a BT router."

* * *

They talked about Larsson and the case for more than half an hour. When the candles on the mantlepiece went out their conversation also ebbed. Another dozen of minutes passed without any sound but the small crackles of the dying fire. Eventually Tommy had pulled off his shoes and folded his legs under the blanket. It caused an amused grin in Barbara's face before she yawned.

"It's boring..." she murmured and glanced at the clock at the wall only to remember that it was not running at all.

"I have some music on my mobile..."

"No. I don't think I'd want to listen to Verdi right now." She chuckled. "And we have to save energy."

"I have more than Verdi." Tommy faked a pouting grumble that made her give him one of _her_ certain smiles. "We could talk." he suggested and looked at the clock on his mobile phone. He showed it to Barbara when she leant across. It said 20:38 PM. Time was not really flying by.

"I'm not in the mood to have conversations. I'm cold, tired and hungry, Tommy."

* * *

Immediately she blushed. Like every time when she called him by his given name Tommy gave her that certain smile that always made her heart jump in joy and confusion. Barbara knew she was in love with him but she also knew that it was not exactly good for her sanity to have any hope that it would ever be reciprocated. No matter how affectionate his smile was. She turned her head away.

Now it was Tommy's turn to sigh. It was so difficult to show her his affection. It was not easy to convince her that he loved her, in fact had loved her for a couple of years already. Once more he asked himself if she mirrored his feelings and just was shy or scared or - and that thought saddened him - if she was just seeing a very good friend in him. When she had blushed he had felt positive but when she turned her head his heart sank.

When she snuggled closer into his side a second later his heart jumped in joy and again there was hope. Nothing would happen tonight, of that he was sure. Not here in the cottage, not with the strange situation they were in. But one day very soon, maybe tomorrow, he had to make another step into her direction. His grip around her shoulders strengthened.

"We should try to get some sleep." Tommy suggested quietly.

Barbara only nodded, closed her eyes and buried her face into his chest. It made him smile. She felt terrific. "Good night, Tommy."

"Good night, Barbara." He closed his eyes and held back a contented sigh.

With his head on the backrest of the sofa and Barbara in his arms, Tommy tried to sleep but it was impossible. He could tell from her fidgeting and little groans of annoyance that Barbara also was still wide awake.

Suddenly Barbara sat up. "Do you think it's unseemly if we'd move to the bed upstairs?" Her face was burning hot and she was glad that it was so dark.

"What?!" In an instant he was wide awake and chuckling nervously.

* * *

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	7. Chapter 7 2 4

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"Umm..." Tommy hesitated before he was able to give a proper answer. Her suggestion had unsettled him for a moment. "Well, there is no fireplace upstairs, so I think we should stay in here."

Barbara groaned. "I don't want to be rude, Sir, but sitting like this is A) slightly too cold and B) not _exactly_ comfy. My old sofa at home is more comfortable!"

She grinned a bit because she knew very well how she could sit against him and be comfortable.

"Isn't this a bed-sofa from IKEA?" Tommy asked turning his head around. "By the way, I like sitting with you like this."

"You mean it's a Nyhamn?" To check it Barbara got up. She ignored his last words completely. It confused her too much. In the instant she got up Tommy missed her proximity. Barbara nodded. "Although I don't know why you know IKEA sofas, you are right."

"I'm not only buying expensive super-furniture, Barbara." He winked. "I'll get the duvet from upstairs. We will sleep here, but properly." On his way back he made sure that the main doors all were double locked. Although he did not expect anyone to drop by, he would not want to be surprised in the middle of the night. Meanwhile Barbara had turned the sofa into a bed with a flick of the wrist so Tommy could toss two pillows onto the mattress. "Which side?"

Barbara quizzically looked at him. "What?"

"Which side is yours?"

"Oh... umm... Actually, I don't care."

"Oh. Okay." They exchanged a look that was a bit longer than a quick glance. Carefully Tommy spread the king size duvet on the sofa. Fully dressed but without shoes and coats of course they hid under it. There was enough space between them to let a third person sleep there but Barbara still felt weird with her boss in the same bed. "Sleep well, Barbara." he whispered.

"Good night, Tommy." There was a huge lump in her throat.

* * *

Listening to his breath turning even Barbara dozed off but she could not fall asleep completely. She tried to get warmer by curling up but nothing helped. Without a loud sound she exhaled.

"I can't find sleep either." Tommy whispered and turned to her. He had heard her annoyed sigh. "It's still rather cold."

Barbara literally could feel his eyes on her face. "Could you feed the fire?" she hoarsely asked and suddenly thought about very indecent things. She had not intended to make it sound so suggestive.

Tommy obviously had other things on his mind. He did not react to the ambiguity at all. "There are only four logs left. I could put on two." The pillow rustled when Barbara nodded.

He had put off his jumper before he returned to bed. "We should huddle together to keep us warm."

"What?!"

"We should snuggle up. When we're closer, the combined body is bigger, and so the surface is smaller." Tommy explained. He hoped she would not be able to see his insecure smile. His suggestion was bold, even for his liking.

"I'm not going to cuddle you under a duvet, _Sir_."

He sighed. "What a pity."

"No. That's..." Barbara cleared her throat. "No..." She agreed with his theory and dearly wanted to be in his arms but she was afraid that her body would betray her and give in to her deepest desires. It would only lead to an embarrassing situation.

For the time the log was burning they drifted into sleep and back. Proper sleep was not really easy. The storm outside made noise, something at the rain gutter constantly squeaked and in the small living room it was slowly getting cooler again.

* * *

"Are you awake?" Tommy eventually breathed.

"Yes." Barbara whispered.

"I'm afraid there is no way we find sleep like this. I suggest I put on one more log and we wrap ourselves into that duvet. One of the blankets should be below us so there's more than just that simple mattress and the other will keep the duvet in place from above." He made a pause. "And we should cuddle. Really."

"Sir..."

"Barbara, we're still dressed. And I think you know that I won't take advantage of the situation. I promise." There was a hint of amusement in his voice but Barbara still feared that _she_ would be the one to take advantage.

She sighed because she knew she already had given into his plea. "Mmmh, well... Okay."

Tommy put the log onto the fire and Barbara spread one of the woollen blankets on the sofa, then the duvet. It was so huge that they would be able to lie on one half and wrap the other half around them. If they lie closer to each other than before, that is. She cleared her throat.

He made another suggestion. "You know, it also would be best if we weren't completely dressed."

"Don't push it too far, Sir." Nonetheless Barbara pulled off her jumper. Then she turned and without taking off her blouse she got rid of her bra. Tommy pretended to be oblivious to that.

Nervously he had to clear his throat.

* * *

Quickly Barbara slipped under the duvet and he spread the other blanket over it all before he followed her. The duvet was not big enough and he needed the blanket to close the gap on his side. He did not care if he would be slightly uncovered but to keep Barbara warm was all that was important to him.

She still was not touching him so he turned his back to Barbara to make it easier for her. "Now come close to me." Tommy murmured. "So I can have a bit more covering from the duvet."

"You already have half of it, Tommy." Barbara mumbled. She slid closer nonetheless.

"Ah, better." He wriggled just enough to get the duvet into the right place but not enough to make Barbara feel uncomfortable. She slightly pressed herself against his back. Almost naturally her arm sneaked around his waist and it caused an enjoyable shiver. "That's what I call hot."

"Well... I agree that it is _warmer_." Barbara murmured. She could smell him and the scent was wonderful as well as it made her nervous but the way they laid was soothing. Suddenly she had to snicker. A thought had crossed her mind.

"Hm?" he hummed. He was contented with the way he could feel her warmth and did not want to disrupt the moment with a conversation but Barbara was not going to do him the favour.

"Sorry, Sir." Her chuckles even intensified.

Tommy was confused. He did not know what could be so amusing. "What?!"

"It's just..." Her breath tickled his nape. It caused pleasant goosepimples that were not from the cold room. "Imagine this: Larsson comes back and finds us having broken into his cottage. Sleeping on his sofa like this."

The mental picture was hilarious. Tommy also began to shake with a suppressed laugh. "Believe me, Barbara, he won't come back and catch us in the ac... he won't see us freezing here."

"Let's hope so, by goodness!"

"Yes. But now sleep." There still was an audible grin in his words.

Her hand was lightly placed on his stomach and he covered it with his. It was marvellous although Tommy would prefer this to happen in his home and in his bed. And with distinctively less clothes. There were some very inappropriate thoughts running around in his mind and even if the situation was not perfect it was glorious.

Barbara also felt great having the chance to almost innocently embrace him. Some of her thoughts were not so innocent at all and she was a bit excited but still she felt how his proximity calmed her. In more than one way.

They finally drifted away into sleep.

* * *

[TIPPYTIPPYTIPPY]

His head jerked up. Although he could not see much Tommy stared into the darkness.

"What's wrong?" Barbara's voice was muffled because she was hid completely under the duvet. She only had felt him moving abruptly.

"What's that noise?!"

"I can't hear anything." She pulled down the cover and listened closely but she still could not hear it. "Sir, if it's a noise it would be loud. You've probably dreamed it."

"No, there was a-"

[TIPPYTIPPYTIPPY]

"There!" he whispered.

[TIPPYTIPPY] ... [TIPPY] ... [TIPPYTIPP]

Barbara laughed out loud and another fast tippytoeing was heard above them before it fell silent.

"Be quiet!" he shushed her. "Is it gone now?"

"Tommy, it was a mouse running around in the upper room. Have you never heard that sound?"

"Actually no." He sounded contrite.

"Oh, I can't believe it..." Sighing Barbara pulled the covers back over her head and not realising what she was doing she caressed his belly. "Sleep, rich man. The little thing won't kill us."

Tommy closed his eyes. "Let's hope so." He had to smile when he covered her hand with his again.

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	8. Chapter 8 2 5

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They had slept for only a short while. Eventually they rolled over together and it woke him up. The cool gap which was now in his back had opened and let in some coldness so he wriggled and fidgeted to get the covering blanket back into its space above his bottom. Then he gently pressed himself against Barbara's back. He bent his knees, so in the end he was spooning her completely.

It felt all but wrong.

The unfamiliar feeling of a male body in her back had pulled Barbara out of her sleep.

"Mmmh?" It was not just the warmth that comforted her. Slowly her mind adjusted to the fact that it was the man she loved.

"Sssh!" Gently caressing her shoulder Tommy tried to soothe her. "Go back to sleep, Barbara."

"Yes, Sir." she sleepily mumbled.

"Call me Tommy." His low voice was right at her ear and his lips almost touched it.

Contented like a cat in the afternoon sun Barbara straightened her back a bit, yawned and stretched. "Mmmmh! Yesss." she sighed still half asleep and was oblivious to the intensified pressure of her shoulderblades and her bottom cheeks against him. She added his whispered name. "Tommy..."

Audibly he exhaled into her neck but Barbara was unaware that he could hardly refrain from gnawing at her nape and show her how deep his affection was. She was just contented to have him so close to her. A couple of moments later she had drifted back to sleep.

For a while Tommy fought hard to keep his body under control before he followed her into dreamland.

* * *

[BAMM BAMM BAMM BAMM]

Barbara and Tommy simultaneously jerked. The loud banging against the door had woken them up immediately. She lifted her head but the firm grip of his arm around her waist kept her from moving away. When she inhaled to speak, a loud voice came from outside.

"Billy Larsson!" a woman shouted. "Get your arse down here, I know you're at home!"

The old fashioned bell chimed persistently.

"Billy, you bastard! Don't try to fool me!"

Cautiously Barbara moved in Tommy's arms and she inhaled again but he quickly shushed her.

"Sh!" he hissed and went on talking only in a whisper. "Quiet! Who is it?"

They both stopped breathing in order to listen to the woman's voice. Her insults were rather nasty and neither Barbara nor Tommy would repeat the words other than in a written statement.

"It's Carly Webb!" Barbara whispered. "And she's quite pissed."

"Completely." Tommy almost had to chuckle. "And I really don't want her to know that we are here."

They kept on talking in whispers.

"But she could help us get out of our misery, Tommy." She had remembered Carly driving about on a muddy quad bike. "We could get back to the village and into a warm house _before_ morning, couldn't we?"

"We could, but honestly, _she_ shouldn't drive drunk and because we're police officers _we_ shouldn't even allow her to drive anywhere, least of all with us on the luggage rack. No, I don't think she'll bring us home."

"But..."

"Plus: it's better not to uncover yet that we've broken into the cottage we thought to be our main suspect's home! Let's just listen to what she has to say. She's his girlfriend... Or _was_. She doesn't sound very affectionate. But maybe she's revealing more than just a strange relationship with that man."

"Mh." Although she dearly wished to get to bed in the B&B down in the village she knew he was right. Barbara laid her head back onto his arm which was serving her as a pillow and closed her eyes. "Yes, it could be useful." she mumbled and snuggled backwards where his chest was. Tommy lightly sighed. He moved his arm further around her waist so that his hand could slide deeper under her side. The cloth of her blouse was pleasantly thin. He could feel her body's heat against his own.

"We will survive the cold night because we have this duvet cave." he convinced her.

Relaxing Barbara sighed. "Yes, we have."

Comfortably cuddling they listened to the curses and the swearing from outside. Carly began to hammer against the door and shouted more insults but nothing she voiced was of any help for their case. Slowly Barbara only listened to Tommy's breath right next to her ear. It was warm and every now and then his lips touched her auricle.

Barbara could not know that Tommy was doing it on purpose. Since Carly had not said anything related to Marston his mind had drifted elsewhere. Eventually the inebriated woman outside stopped shouting and left after a hard kick against the door. An engine roared and the noise of the quad bike disappeared in the distance.

Against his body Tommy felt Barbara's chest heaving steadily and so he thought she was asleep again. After a final kiss into her hair Tommy let his head rest further away from the wonderful smell.

But Barbara was wide awake and only got back to sleep when she heard him snoring lightly.

* * *

It really was only a short night. It was still dark when they woke up. The fire had burnt down to a small heap of ash and it had turned distinctively colder in the room. For a while Barbara and Tommy had fidgeted and wriggled, both carefully avoiding to disturb the other in their sleep or touching each other too inappropriately. At one point Tommy let out a groan of annoyance.

"You can't get back to sleep either, Barbara, can you?" he whispered.

"Not at all." she said. She was facing him and was hidden almost completely under the duvet. In the safety of the cover she cautiously sniffled at his chest. His arms were placed around her waist. "But neither can I say that I really feel like getting up."

Her words made him squeeze her gently. Although his back was slightly hurting he did not feel like getting up ever again. It was still nicely warm under the duvet although he thought it could be warmer. Instinctively they had crawled close and kept their proximity throughout the night. He would miss this when they would be back in their separate rooms. Tommy deeply sighed.

Barbara yawned. "But I'm afraid, I _have_ to."

"Why? It's still dark. We won't start our walk before the sun-"

"Sir..." Shaking her head free from the duvet she desperately grinned. "I _have_ to!"

"Why... oh. Oh, yes, sorry."

In the second he lifted the duvet the cold from the room hit them.

"Ah, shit. I almost forgot the cold." Barbara cursed. She quickly slipped into her shoes but did not bother to close the laces before she hurried to the bathroom. Tommy put on his jumper and stoked in the embers to burn the last little piece of wood they had not used in the night. It was more useful to light up a fire, but not to warm up the room.

"Yes, and I don't like the cold without you by my side." he whispered into the small flame. Tommy definitely did not mean the warmth coming from there.

* * *

"I've checked the thermometer. It's -4°C. I had expected it to be colder." He said to her when she came back.

"I'd say it's cold enough." she grumbled. When Barbara had returned she had seen that Tommy had put on his shoes and the bed was a sofa again but the duvet still was forming a little shelter for them. Two mini Mars bars and three plastic wrapped biscuits were placed on the coffee table. Her eyes lit up.

"You've missed these in the kitchen." There was a little bit of pride in his eyes. "They were in the cutlery drawer."

"Oh, what a nice surprise."

To her great relief Tommy went back into the kitchen so Barbara was able to hurry back into the corridor and get on her bra and jumper without a moment of embarrassment although the two candles he had lit did not give enough light to see properly. The storm lantern did, when she had turned it up, but its brightness destroyed the romantic atmosphere.

"Maybe it's better this way." Barbara muttered under her breath and yawned. Snuggling into the duvet she wondered what Tommy was doing in the kitchen for such a long time.

When she yawned the door to the kitchen suddenly opened. She froze with her eyes wide open.

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	9. Chapter 9 2 6

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Her face lit up brightly. When the door had opened the second most wonderful smell of the world filled the cold room in an instant. Full of pride Tommy stood in the doorway to the kitchen and watched her reaction.

"Coffee!" Barbara rejoiced. Then she halted and cocked her head in confusion. "Is the electricity on again?"

"No, unfortunately not." he replied with an apologetic grin, stepping into the marginally warmer living room. In his hands he held two mugs with steaming hot coffee. "But I've found an old simple camping cooker to prepare the essentials! Still enough gas, I reckon, to prepare a second one for you."

Gratefully she took the mug and enjoyed a sip of the hot liquid. "Ah, this is heaven!"

Before joining her Tommy also used the bathroom. His ruffled hair had undergone the attempt to tame it with water but due to his unshaven face he still did not look like the respectable Inspector when he returned. It was a sight Barbara knew she would keep in her mind, stored away like a precious treasure. She gave him a smile and he mirrored it.

* * *

Side by side and wrapped into the duvet Barbara and Tommy let the coffee warm their stomachs. Their arms were touching while they ate the last bits of the sweets. Of course it was just a quick bite so her stomach still rumbled. Tommy chuckled lightly.

"When it's brighter outside we'll leave." he said to ease her. "And when we're back in the village we're going to have the most opulent breakfast ever."

"I'm so looking forward to it. That and a hot shower."

"Mhm." Involuntarily and driven by the flash of an indecent thought Tommy gently rubbed his arm against hers. Still he hoped that she would not have felt it, or at least would not conclude from that what his mind had suggested. "And when we walk we'll get warm automatically."

"I'm going to run, Sir." He gave her a stern look and she rolled her eyes. She knew what he meant. "Okay, I'm not going to run, _Tommy_! I'm going to walk _carefully_ down the snow covered street. Although it will become hard to slow down because breakfast is a perfect goal, you know."

"Full English?"

"What else?" She grinned.

"With bacon, toast, mushrooms, tomato-"

"Ugh!"

He raised an eyebrow. "Beans?"

"Better." Barbara nodded. "Now please stop talking about it or I'll be up and away in two seconds." As if to emphasise it her stomach rumbled again.

* * *

Tommy only was able to grin. He had not even inhaled properly to give her a nice reply when his own stomach made a hungry noise. Barbara looked surprise for a second and then broke into laughter. He joined her and without any ulterior motives they companionably snuggled closer into each other's sides.

"What time is it?" she asked. She had pulled her legs under the blanket and cradled her warm mug with both hands.

Tommy looked at his wrist watch. "A bit past seven."

"Oh, no... the sun will be up at eight or so, will it?" Barbara winced.

"More likely at half past eight. Probably a bit earlier than down in the valley."

"Yeah!" She snorted. "About two minutes or so. It's still more than one hour until then!"

"Well, we don't need bright daylight for that walk. We could start earlier than full sunrise. I wouldn't take a scrubby footpath anyway, better stay on the roads, so a little twilight will do."

Barbara only nodded. She feared what would be in the time until they would leave the cottage. It could be awkward silence. It also could be an embarrassing conversation about their night, or even more embarrassing explanations that it was only an emergency situation that made him spooning her. With blank eyes she stared ahead.

Tommy wriggled until he had his feet - without shoes again - under the duvet. If it was possible he even moved a bit closer and after draping the cover around her shoulder properly he simply kept his arm there.

"Have you already looked out of the window?" he asked quietly.

"Hm?" She wondered what he was up to. "Actually no, not really. It's still dark outside. What could I see?"

"I haven't looked here but at least on the pane of the kitchen window there are beautiful little ice crystals."

She groaned. "What's so beautiful about the winter frost?"

* * *

He knew what. It was this here. Tommy watched her without giving an answer. She had closed her eyes and her head was leaning against his shoulder, face slightly turned to him. Her hair was forced into a messy pony tail. Her expression was soft. In the yellowish light of the candles and the lantern she looked relaxed but it was also possible that it just came from her tiredness. Barbara suppressed a yawn which made her nose crinkle sweetly and Tommy was tempted to kiss her.

If he was honest to himself he was not only tempted to kiss her. He would love to put away their mugs, kiss her senseless and then hide with her under the duvet. It was almost painful to keep on hiding his deep desire to show her how much he loved her. Completely, all over, from head to toe and deep inside. It would not at all be appropriate for a superior, neither for a good friend, but she was so much more to him. And he knew that he could not even tell her that she looked utterly beautiful in the morning.

"Well, it _is_ romantic." His voice was a bit hoarse. He cleared his throat. "At least the little ice crystals."

Barbara raised her eyebrows but still did not open her eyes. She could not. She had felt that the smile and the look she had given him earlier when he had come back from the bathroom had shown more than she should have; being just his good friend, being his Sergeant. She felt that the weirdly romantic night had crushed down too many defences which made her vulnerable.

In a way it frightened her. And in a way she felt safe. And strangely at ease with everything.

"See? You have a sore throat." she murmured patting his chest. She kept her hand there.

"Bollocks." Tommy mumbled and then they fell silent for a while.

It had not been completely comfortable in their surrogate sleeping bag, and the fact that they had slept so close to each other did not make it any better. They had not been able to move properly and both had been awake a lot in the night, so now, with nothing to do until dawn, they dozed for several minutes to catch up on missed sleep.

* * *

For a few minutes Barbara even fell asleep. Under the duvet she rolled herself up into a ball and nestled against his side, with her bent knees lying on his thigh, her head resting on the side of his chest and her arm involuntarily sneaking further around his waist.

He would not wake her. Tommy simply relished the warmth of her body and that Barbara finally was not keeping her usual distance. He wondered what could be the reason for it. Why was she cuddling him freely, here in someone else's cottage. It did not feel like it was owed to the circumstance that there was no heater, no signal or no electricity. It felt as if she enjoyed it. Just the way he did.

From which side he was looking at all this, he always came to one conclusion but still thought it could not be possible. He concluded, he wished, he hoped, that she probably harboured feelings for him that went deeper than just friendship. Feelings which he mirrored and did not dare to tell her.

Tommy sighed deeply. The romantic setting here could be a perfect moment if he was not such a coward. With Barbara everything related to his emotions was so different.

"Hmmm?" The heaving of his chest had woken her up. "What's up?"

"Ah, it's just..." An explanation was needed. "This situation reminds me of a winter's adventure I've had once."

"Okay..." The least Barbara wanted to hear was a story of Tommy having a romantic stay in a chalet with one of his affairs. But she still was curious so she gave in. Closing her eyes and yielded up to her fate she encouraged him. "Go tell. We have some time to fill."

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	10. Chapter 10 2 7

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"Okay, where shall I begin?" Tommy let his head rest on the backrest of the sofa and stared at the dark ceiling. "Well... Once we had a small stone house at the entrance to our estate."

"Oh. The gatekeeper's cottage. Aha..."

He did not miss the slight vibration of sarcasm in Barbara's voice. "Yes. The gatekeeper's cottage. It was beautiful, but actually not much more than a stonewall shed."

"Was?"

"It's knocked down recently because in the end it was nothing but an unused ruin. You know, my family has given up the employment of a gatekeeper some generations ago. We-"

"Do you ever listen to yourself, Tommy?" Her voice was soft but sad somehow.

"What? Why? Because I accidentally was born into a family of wealth?" Tommy cocked his head and brushed her hair with his cheek. "Barbara, you know me. I'm not showing off my money."

"Tailor made suits." Barbara quietly said. He snorted amused. "Horses in Ascot. A private box in Wimbledon. One at Lord's. A house in Belgravia. An estate in Cornwall. An aristocratic title. Shall I go on?"

"You could also mention the old dark red wreck out there on the street, but! ...I hope you've learned by now that these things don't _really_ matter to me."

"Ah..." She nodded lightly because she knew he was right. She just wanted to tease him. "Yeah..."

* * *

"Well, all that money just makes my life easier." He went on explaining. "But you shouldn't forget the MacMillan Mayfair near Truro."

Barbara nodded again. She knew that he was one of the big sponsors.

"And the school break fair in Nanrunnel."

"Yep." Barbara blushed. That fair was another event where he was _the_ sponsor. She still did not know what had made her come with him but it had turned into a funny weekend with his family and friends and with nice cosy evenings in his family's manor. She also still did not know if she should be happy or disappointed that she had declined his half serious, half joking invitation to another night cap in his bedroom. They had been quite inebriated on that certain evening.

Not completely pissed though, and that was in fact her problem. There had been too much soberness in his invitation, which had frightened her. But when she had said no to him he only had smiled, sadly somehow, and given her a gentle kiss on the cheek.

"You're a good man." she mumbled and patted his side.

"Thank you." Tommy smiled and placed a light and silent kiss onto her head which she almost did not feel. It caused a short wave of goose pimples on her arms.

"Now what was it with your story about your winter adventure?"

"I've spent the night there with my dear friend George. We had-"

"Oh, a romantic night with George?" Barbara snickered.

* * *

His face lit up. So she probably called this situation here romantic too. But he only could laugh about her words. "No, Barbara. We were ten or eleven and we've had our sleeping bags with us. We've cooked a pot of beans on an antique cooker downstairs, ate half of the unburnt mass, roamed about through the surroundings with a torch light and eventually mother rang the old bell that was connected to our entrance hall to signalise that we should switch off the lights and go to sleep in the tiny room upstairs. Of course we did not sleep a lot. We've told each other horror stories and talked through half of the night. Little boys have a lot to talk about. Everything important, that's for sure, although I don't remember anything..."

Sleepily Barbara listened to his story with only half an ear. She was fascinated by his lace-like voice, and here, without any other city sounds, she was able to let it drip slowly into her soul. When he finally came to the part with the ice crystals at the window panes in the morning she realised that she had not heard the rest properly. With infectious enthusiasm he talked about the colours and shapes of the crystals and how they made little spy holes with two pence coins that had been kept warm in the little boys' pockets but the heady scent of his chest in her nose was too distracting.

"That's cute, Tommy."

"Come on, we'll have a closer look at the crystals in the kitchen." Already while he said it he knew he would not want to leave the sofa so he made no attempt at all to get up.

"Naaah..." Barbara murmured. To his great joy the grip around his waist became firmer. She was keeping him in place. "I'm not going to leave this spot with you in my arms, only to look at a physicochemical phenomenon in the icy cold kitchen." Tommy felt her body stiffen with her words. She had shocked herself. "I mean, it's distinctively warmer here under the duvet." she quickly explained.

"It is." Tommy closed his eyes and smiled.

In companionable silence they spent the next few minutes snoozing again.

* * *

"Tommy?" Barbara's voice broke the peace.

He was not in the mood to speak. "Hm?"

"You've mentioned another coffee?"

"Oh, yes. Yes, I did."

It was time to get started.

Barbara followed him into the kitchen. Although she had to give up the cosy warmth under the blankets she knew they eventually had to get up anyway. She had to admit to herself that she also was curious about the ice crystals on the windows and hoped they were still there.

As long as Tommy fidgeted with the camping cooker, which was a simple small gas cylinder with a burner on it, Barbara got closer to the single glazed window. At the edges of the pane and in the corners there were little six-pointed stars and other geometric patterns. They looked like winter flowers and were in fact quite pretty.

With the penny she always had in her pocket she tested what Tommy had told her earlier. Trying hard to see something outside through the tiny peephole Barbara was so focussed that she had not heard him stepping up right behind her so she startled when she heard his low voice so close to her ear.

"And? What do you see? Oh, sorry, I didn't mean to spook you."

Except for the brief jerk Barbara did not dare to move. "Actually I don't see anything."

"Well, that's the west side. On the other side where the sun comes up there will be more light by now."

"Nah, maybe a lighter dark blue."

"Anyway, it's getting brighter. I think we'll be leaving in about twenty minutes." He gave her the hot mug. "When we've had the coffee."

"Thank goodness."

"Was it that bad?"

"First and foremost it was cold, and it wasn't _my_ bed and additionally this is a suspect's house!" Barbara knew it sounded as if she would have shared the bed with Tommy if it wasn't here and so she blushed. To hide it she returned her attention to the pane and scratched a bigger part ice free. It was still too dark to see anything properly.

They had their second mug of coffee and then Tommy brought the duvet and the pillows back into the bedroom upstairs. He returned chafing his hands. Barbara already had cleaned the mugs and kept it in the sink and afterwards she had quenched the remnants of the fire.

"Huh." He blew some warm breath into his fingers. "It's definitely colder upstairs. I'm glad that we've stayed down here."

When everything was in order and almost like they had found it yesterday evening, they put on their coats.

It was time to leave.

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	11. Chapter 11 2 8

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Barbara looked around and was satisfied with the tidiness.

"You know that we have to write a report about this?" Tommy gave her a distressed smile when they were putting on their coats and prepared for their presumably exhausting walk back to the village. Meanwhile there was enough light outside to look through the windows and see a lot of untouched snow lying on the hills and meadows. The driveway was hidden under a thick layer of white and where they were able to see a short part of the street the snow banks at its edges were almost half a meter high. The sight assured them that it definitely had been the right decision to stay in the safe, warm and dry shelter of Willow's Weep.

Because it was hanging above his own Tommy took Barbara's scarf first and hung it around her neck. Smiling softly, he tied a loose knot into it. Their eyes locked. Suddenly Barbara felt as if there was electricity in the air. His hands still held the ends of the scarf and he still looked at her. There was something in his eyes Barbara only had one word for, but she did not even dare to think it clearly. He slightly cocked his head. It was almost invisible. The fond smile on his face changed into something she never had seen and it made her heart race. He looked as if he was going to kiss her.

And Tommy almost had. He had wanted to prolong their stay here in their romantic refuge. He had wanted a few moments more with Barbara but without the reality outside. Her expression had been so soft and thankful and so lovely but when he had hesitated there suddenly was a confusion he could not explain. First she had looked as if the moment was right for him to be bold but then Tommy thought he had misinterpreted it. He was an expert in such matters, he knew it.

"No." Barbara croaked. Disappointed his hands fell down. When she opened the knot and looped the scarf around her neck several times she gave him a coy smile but could not stand his loving gaze any longer. "It's warmer _this_ way. And yeah, of course we have to write a report." Sighing she went on with business. "But _we stayed overnight_ is all that we're saying, aren't we?" Barbara closed the zipper of her anorak up to her chin and shot another quick glance at Tommy.

He was laboriously putting on his cashmere scarf and turned up the collar of his padded jacket. He cocked his head. "Well... It's what we did, didn't we?"

A cute woollen hat hid her messy hair. "And a list of the items we used of course." she added.

"Everything else actually was private, Barbara." Tommy stroked her upper arm. Then he slipped into his fine leather gloves. "And it's nobody's business but ours."

"That's what I mean." Her gloves were knitted and in all colours of the rainbow. She clapped her gloved hands to signalise she was ready to go. When she stopped in front of the back door to hang her bag's strap across her chest he conspiratorially bent down to her ear.

"It's our little secret." he whispered from behind. His cheek had brushed her head.

She swallowed. It took her another couple of seconds to be able to lift her hand to the door knob.

* * *

Outside the cold air hit them. It had not been really warm inside but outside it was really frosty. Barbara grunted in annoyance. While Tommy turned to lock the door where they had come in the previous evening she waited stamping her feet in the snow. He let the key slip into his pocket and turned. "We better keep it."

"Sure. Okay, let's go. As much as I dread the walk - everything that brings me closer to warmth is better than the night." she muttered. It was more a reminder for herself why she was up and out here and what was awaiting her when she finally would have passed through the snow. Her breath formed little clouds.

Tommy looked at her with a grin. "Well, I enjoyed it."

"Oh, really?! I wasn't sleeping properly!" To emphasise her words she yawned loudly.

"Neither was I." He shrugged. "But I was glad to have a human being so close to me."

They turned to the corner of the cottage to get past the house to the driveway and the street.

Barbara chuckled. "What about Yvette?" Tommy let go of a quiet whistle of appreciation. Yvette was a woman he had brought to the office several weeks ago. Barbara raised her eyebrows although he could not see her. She was trudging through the snow in front of him. "The one with the highest heels I've ever seen."

"Oh, yeah. But there was absolutely nothing." he explained. "Although she had wanted. But..." Shaking his head he gave a short scornful laugh. "Ah, no. Really, no."

"And Moira?"

"Mira. She is my very good friend from college. Yes, we've sometimes shared a sofa." He came closer to Barbara and whispered conspiratorially. "Mind you, she's lesbian."

Barbara blushed. Tommy saw her red ears. "I also remember a Cathérine." She had said it with pursed lips and almost perfectly French. "That Lady what's-her-name who had chosen your new furniture."

He did not react to that. "Were you counting them?" Tommy's voice was full of amusement.

Although her heart suddenly was beating faster Barbara answered almost casually. "Yes, I was."

* * *

Tommy immediately slowed his walk. He could not believe what he had heard. She must be joking. But Barbara also stopped and turned to him when she got aware that his steps had halted. Their eyes met. He quizzically looked into hers and saw the blush on her face that definitely did not come from the cool breeze which was blowing stronger here on the front side of the cottage. She shrugged almost apologetically but held his gaze. He could just as well see how his affairs had hurt her. He frowned but there also was a certain happiness creeping into his eyes.

"Cathérine was colder than snow. She was one of my mistakes." He gave a nondescript grunt. "And it was aeons ago, Barbara. Long before..." Tommy's voice trailed off.

"Long before what?" Her voice was slightly higher than normal. This strange conversation and the way it had taken was stressing her.

Suddenly his face softened and his lips turned into a smile. In expectation of a stupid story Barbara narrowed her eyes. Tommy breathed in deeply.

"Long before I knew what I want." Tommy gently said.

"Oh. Aha..." She would not want to hear any more cryptic explanation. Barbara halfway turned to walk on because she would not want to hear more about other women. She was happy when he was happy, with whomever he wanted, but it was also always hurting her and she did not need to know right now. Only when she felt his hand grabbing her elbow she stopped again.

"Long before I knew what I have."

"Sir?" A safe barrier would be best, she thought. His voice was far too gentle for her liking. She would not want him to rave about another woman right now. She wanted to get back to the village.

"Barbara, this night wasn't only cold. It was warm. It was warm with you. This night was in fact terrific. Terrific, because I had you in my arms."

"What do you mean?" she croaked confused. These words of him did not meet her expectations.

"Isn't it clear?" Tommy made a step forward. The distance between them was now too close to be appropriate for the DI and his Sergeant.

"No..." Barbara's heart was thumping. She even thought he must hear it. "Not really..." she cautiously replied.

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	12. Chapter 12 2 9

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"To me it's very clear now. Barbara..." He breathed in and out before he went on. It was the moment he had dreaded and also hoped for but it had to happen before they were back in the village. "I love you." he whispered. His hand went to her upper arm and gently stroked her. His gesture was almost shy.

"No." Barbara choked. She almost cried. His words were very wrong and very right and she dearly wanted to believe him but dreams never come true, do they?

"Yes." Tommy made another small step closer. "Yes, I _do_ love you. Actually I think I have for a long time, even when I still was trying to find love elsewhere."

"Tommy..." she almost desperately tried to stop him talking and slightly shook her head. He certainly must have caught the fever in the night.

He had to convince her. He did not feel that he was wrong. "It felt so very right to have you in my arms tonight. It felt so wonderful to talk you into sleep. It felt so extremely good to hear you snoring slightly right next to me."

"I don't snore!" she brusquely said.

It brought a loving smile into his face. "You do, and I love it. As well as the morning-messy hair you try to hide under your cute woollen hat."

Barbara was constantly blushing but now his strange confessions also made her grin nervously. Tommy gained hope. "And your hair smells so wonderful."

"Tommy, no..." She was thinking of his title. She was thinking of his money. She was thinking of his rank. She was thinking of a billion other things that made them different.

* * *

Tommy's hope faded. "I've thought a lot about us recently. All our differences that don't matter, and all the things that we have in common. The things we share. About what we had, what we have and... what we could have. I've thought even more tonight in the moments when I was awake and felt you by my side. It wasn't just the physical proximity. I can share my thoughts with you. I can truly _talk_ with you. And now I know that I also can snuggle up with you which is... so, so wonderful. And eventually, some time around 3 or so, I realised I had to tell you what I really feel for you. It stands above everything."

"Tommy, we can't-" She was thinking of what his family would say.

"We can." He laughed freely because it was finally said. "Oh, yes, we so bloody can, Barbara. I love you. Do you love me not?" His expression was suddenly fearful and also hopeful. She was not running away, was she?

Barbara looked to the ground. She slouched her shoulders. There was no point in denying it. There was no point in running away from her feelings again, like she had all those years.

"Yes, I do." she breathed and his heart stumbled over his joy. "But-"

"No! No but. You love me, I love you. Just let me show you how deep I'm in love with you. Please, oh, please..." he pleaded quietly before his voice turned into a whisper. "Please, let me kiss you." Tommy smiled. "Because I believe that there is no but in the world that really counts."

She raised her head again. Her open face and her unmasked eyes showed him all her concerns and her fears, her love and a little bit of desire. He was sure now that Barbara would not step back when he bent down to her lips. Her hand had landed on his elbow, almost as if she tried to pull him closer.

He also was sure that she had nodded almost imperceptibly. Tommy knew that in the end he had convinced her.

Barbara caught herself by surprise when she felt that she was nodding. Something suddenly had shifted. Of course it had built up over many years and had manifested itself in the past few months. Tonight she had come to know that she actually loved him deeper than she ever thought and even had admitted it to herself. Only when he had said that he was in love with her she suddenly knew it was real. There still were objections and reasons why this should not be but Barbara closed her mind for all of this for the moment. She could as well start thinking again when they were back in the village. She imperceptibly shook her head.

It made him hesitate briefly. Tommy swallowed. Then he also placed his other hand on her arm and softly pulled Barbara closer to his chest.

* * *

Suddenly there was no other sound but theirs. They were oblivious to everything. They heard no early bird tweeting, they heard no wind rustling the leaves of the willow, they heard no car engine.

"I love you." he whispered.

"Yes." she breathed. Barbara closed her eyes in the moment the tip of his nose touched hers softly. She had given in completely and Tommy finally knew that she loved him when he felt her warm breath on his skin.

She slightly opened her lips even though they had not yet felt his. Heat radiating from his face warmed hers up in the most pleasant way. Even with all those thick winter clothes that he wore Barbara could smell a hint of his natural scent and a bit of coffee and she knew that she would never forget that olfactory impression. Her heart could not decide if it should race or stop beating completely. Her mind was only circling around Tommy and when she felt the featherlight touch of his lips on hers she stopped breathing.

Although it was just a short contact she already knew that his lips were open like hers. Another soft exchange of a breath of a kiss confirmed it. With a tiny sound Barbara started breathing again.

"Tommy!" she sighed. Tentatively their lips touched again.

"Oh, Barbara..." Barbara felt his words on her lips more than she heard them.

Finally their lips met properly. The last bit of distance was closed when Tommy moved forward. Barbara stood on tiptoes and the fingers that were grabbing his elbow were buried deep into the padded wool of his jacket. She felt his arms moving from her shoulders to her back until he circled her completely.

Timidly their kiss turned firmer and distinctively deeper. There was so much pent up love to be exchanged. Although the gentleness in it never ended, the touch became more solid with every second passing. In a moment of breathing Barbara let go of another soft sigh. The next time their lips touched she had opened her mouth and Tommy felt brave enough to invade it with his tongue.

She happily welcomed him. The kiss intensified. There was so much desire suddenly breaking free in a long and steady kiss that confirmed their love.

* * *

"He, Bobby! Hurry up!"

* * *

Barbara wanted to jump away from Tommy's arms. She had heard Winston's shouting voice in a blurry distance and when the sound had reached her brain through the dizzy cloud of joy some seconds later she realised that she would not want to be found kissing with her boss. It was too early to show it to the world.

"Tommy!" she quietly cried out onto his lips. She would not want to stop feeling his lips on hers either. "He shouldn't-"

But his arm around her held her firmly against his chest.

"No, Barbara." Tommy murmured between kisses. "I'm not going to let you get out of my arms. Never again. And I'm not going to hide my love for you any second longer. Least of all to Winston."

He held her a bit away from his chest without letting her get out of his embrace. His grin was broad and infectious. Her face widened into a similar grin shortly before Tommy gave her another firm kiss. He poured all the desire into it and it almost went out of control.

Afterwards Barbara looked at him and with a voice as firm as the kiss was she simply stated "I love you too, Tommy." She was totally out of breath.

"Oh, finally." He laughed freely.

When DC Nkata and PC Dawson came around the edge of the scrubs DI Lynley still had one arm around his Sergeant's shoulders and was about to kiss her again but she already had turned towards the driveway and with her head thrown back into her nape she was laughing loudly.

Something that had been weighing heavily was taken from their shoulders and it was visible. Life suddenly felt terrific.

* * *

Winston was grinning from ear to ear when he had come around the bushes and waved to Barbara and Tommy. When he had raced up here he had not expected to find his superiors in a close embrace. He had not expected to witness DS Havers and DI Lynley exchanging that long and gentle declaration of love.

He knew he never would forget the image of them exchanging their first kiss.

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A/N: Thank you for reading and reviewing.

**Tess**

P.S.: I'm thinking about an epilogue but I'm not sure about it at the moment. So, maybe there will be a few more chapters, maybe not...


	13. Chapter 13 3 1

**A/N:** Yes, of course, the epilogue... I just can't keep my mind from running. So here you get to see what happened after Winston found them kissing in the snow in the front garden of Willow's Weep.

Enjoy...

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**Frost Forecast - Part III**

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"Sir!" Nkata called still grinning. "Barbara! Are you okay?"

It was obvious that everything was more than just okay.

Although he would have preferred to go on kissing her Tommy knew that Barbara would not want to be found like this. At least not at this stage of _everything_ and not by a stranger like PC Dawson. So, knowing her, he let her go out of his arms, but not without letting his hand trail down her spine. He saw a little movement that looked just like Barbara was stretching her back with pleasure. For a brief moment Tommy relished in the prospect of learning what would make her execute other delicate movements.

He had to clear his throat.

"We're fine, Winnie!" Barbara answered. Her voice was a bit higher than cheery and she was beaming happily.

"What about Larsson?" Winston turned shortly back to PC Dawson who still was fidgeting with the Velcro fastener of his vest. "We're having a little trouble, eh? Need more training?" He snickered.

"He's not here." Barbara replied. "Let's get back to the station, I need a heater." When she walked towards her colleague she had learned from his expression that he had seen enough to give her the juiciest of grins. She hissed "And not a word about... ah!" She waved her hand dismissively through the air and passed him.

Winston had to laugh out loud. "We were worrying! You had your mobiles switched off. What happened?"

"Let's get into the car, Nkata." Lynley chimed in. "It's cold. We can brief you on the way back to the village."

* * *

When Barbara was fastening her seatbelt in the backseat of the Landrover her hand brushed Tommy's and he immediately took the chance to grab it. She shot him a glance but there was no way she could argue with him about inappropriateness in the police car. The look in his eyes was that of a besotted teenager. Defeated by that she rolled her eyes with a smile and started to look out of the window during the drive while Lynley explained in short words that they had an accident with the car, found the key, found the cottage literally untouched for days, if not weeks, spent the night on the sofa, without any mobile phone signal, landline phone, electricity or heater and had just been about to walk back to the village when Nkata and Dawson had arrived.

"Ah, I see the trees in the cables and the toppled power poles. No wonder..." He nodded out of the window.

"We want nothing more but some warmth, a big breakfast, a hot shower and a nap." Barbara finished his story. Her eyes were still glued to the landscape and her hand was still held by his. When she mentioned her need of a shower Tommy squeezed it and a light blush crept over her face.

Winston caught her eyes in the rear mirror. "I understand that completely." Again he had that juicy grin on his face.

DI Lynley sighed. "But first we have to meet the vicar. I only hope he's not off for Scotland by now."

"Oh, we have cancelled the appointment, Sir. We couldn't have known what had happened and that we'd be in time."

"Uh, brilliant." Lynley groaned slightly annoyed. "I'm going to call him as soon as there's a signal on my mobile. We have to meet him."

Unfortunately he had to let go of Barbara's hand to make that call with the cleric.

* * *

They found him in the church. Sitting on the benches with the vicar they had their little chat about the villagers in general and the victim and his family in particular. Carefully the DI steered the conversation to Larsson and Willow's Weep but the vicar was unaware of the fact that Larsson obviously did not really live up there anymore. The Detectives would not yet uncover what they had found out there so the interview left them with more questions than before. They only had learned a little from the vicar.

* * *

Back in the little police station Barbara and Tommy fully had returned to their Detective's selves. They were all business again. Lynley tossed his warm clothes onto his desk and went straight to the white board.

"Okay. We have to tick off a few things before we're having breakfast. Sorry, Barbara." he turned to her with a soft apologetic smile but she only nodded understandingly. Writing a list on the board Lynley went on. "Dawson. Call for SOCO from Causton - they have to work through the cottage. Then start checking everything that could lead us to Larsson's actual place of living. Map his mobile log ins, his credit card activities, any mention of him being seen, maybe CCTV footage. Browse our interview files. Nkata, you'll record an interview with Havers. We have to make sure this incident up there won't become an obstacle. Everything has to be noted very precisely. While you're talking, I'm going to call for a recovery service for my car and then make a list of what we've used in the cottage. Afterwards I'll be interviewed and Barbara makes her own list. Then we'll check for similarities."

"Shouldn't you have the interviews with _me_, Sir?" Dawson asked. "Just saying. Because you're teamed with Winnie for such a long time. It could lead to questions."

Lynley stared at him. He knew the Constable was right but he would not want to make Barbara uncomfortable, forcing her to speak to anyone else but a known friend. After all, the cottage night was something rather delicate. "That's a good point. Okay, Havers is having that interview with Nkata, and I'll have mine with you. This way Nkata can't put her tale into the questions he has for me."

Although she was putting away their coats and therefore turning her back to him Tommy could see that Barbara was deeply sighing in relief.

"What else?" He lifted the whiteboard marker.

"Carly Webb." DS Havers said. "She has to be looked at closer than we had until now."

"Exactly." Lynley wrote _cottage WW_ under her name. "And the cottage. Is it for sale or to let? By which company. Since when. How much. Dawson, put that onto your list of errands."

"Who's his actual owner." Havers added.

"What about the abandoned barn?"

"And why was someone trying to keep us - or anybody else - from driving closer?"

Throwing them in like a pingpong match they wrote down more and more questions before DC Nkata finally was dismissed to the interview room with DS Havers.

* * *

Carefully Winston closed the door behind them while Barbara already was taking a seat on the other side of the interview table. She usually never sat there and it was quite unfamiliar. The juicy grin on Winnie's face though was slowly but surely becoming a familiar sight.

"Oh, will you stop grinning, DC Nkata." She tried her best Sergeant's voice but failed miserably. Nkata only laughed out loud.

"Okay." he said sitting down on the opposite side. His finger hovered above the record button. "Present are DS soon-to-be-Lynley and DC Nkata. And DC Nkata wants to hear everything."

"Winnie!"

"You cheeky little Miss." His kept his hand near the button. "Go, tell me everything."

"I'm not going to tell you _everything_. And less so if you push that button."

"You're a spoilsport." Winston pouted playfully.

"No, it's just..." She diverted her eyes and Winston covered her folded hands on the table with his.

"It's too fresh, right?" She nodded and he went on patting her hands.

"And it's... private." she muttered.

"I understand. I'm just so happy for you. For both of you. It already had become a pain to see you dancing around each other."

* * *

Barbara looked up. "Was it so obvious?"

"It was a huge male African elephant in the room. Or even a mammoth." They laughed. "I wish you all the best, Lady Asherton-to-be."

"Oh, gosh, Winnie! One step after the other." Barbara hesitated, then asked what he has seen.

It brought another big grin onto his face. "I came around that bush and saw you looking at each other. I almost had called you but then I realised that there was something happening between the two of you that shouldn't be disturbed by no means."

"So you have seen us... kissing?"

"From the very first moment on. I was prepared for everything but not for that! I was quite shocked. Positively shocked of course. Until I remembered Bobby also coming up the driveway and I thought I'd give you a warning."

"Thank you." she muttered quietly.

"Do I understand it correctly that it was your very first kiss?"

Barbara's face reddened a bit more and she nodded shyly.

"And did he say the three words?"

"Mhm."

"I hope you've answered properly."

"Well... yes, I guess." Barbara suddenly grinned broadly. "Yes, I answered properly."

"Oh, lovely." DC Nkata sighed. "It was about time, really. Now, let's get going. We need your official version. Of the rest!" Winking and squeezing her hands one last time he turned his attention towards the recorder. He pushed the record button and said date, time and place. "Present are DC Nkata, as the interviewer, and DS Havers, giving her statement about the incident at Willow's Weep last night."

They shared a silent grin before Winston encouraged her to start talking. In objective, almost impersonal words that did not really match every situation in the cottage Barbara gave her statement.

* * *

When they returned to the main office twenty minutes later they found DI Lynley and PC Dawson sitting at their computers.

"Oh, you've finished already?" Lynley looked up. Barbara nodded and sat down at her desk. She was blushing slightly when she had recognised the hint of affection in Tommy's eyes. "Good. I've just saved the list of items we used, where we've found them and where we've left them. Now please make your list, Barbara, and I'll give my statement. Dawson, will we? The sooner we're finished with it, the sooner Havers and I will get our breakfast."

DI Lynley gave his statement and Barbara made her list of items. She added a few notes she remembered only then. Afterwards they left DC Nkata and PC Dawson with the work to combine the information on their own and work through the rest of their tasks.

"We're going to have the most opulent breakfast now." Lynley declared solemnly when he was getting into his coat. "Wherever they might serve a late one."

"Yep." Barbara put on her anorak. "I hope the B&B makes an exception today."

"And have a nap!" Winston suggested with a grin. "I'm not expecting you back here earlier than three o'clock!"

That would give them almost 5 hours for themselves.

Barbara refrained from giving Winston a snappy remark. She only glared at him because he was just about to answer a mobile call.

* * *

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**A/N:** Probably I'm not posting the next chapters on a daily basis, so please be patient.

And don't forget to leave a review - we free-to-read writers live on it ;-)


	14. Chapter 14 3 2

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They had to walk around the police building because they had left through the backdoor. Although it was starting to thaw the ground was still a bit white and untouched here and there. Little hoods of snow topped the branches of the bushes and trees. In the early daylight that was warming more and more some of them already slid down and fell to the ground with a wet thud.

"Now that my breakfast and a warm room is so close I can see the beauty in winter." Barbara said quietly.

Tommy put his arm around her shoulders. He recognised with joy that she looped her arm around his waist and moved closer into his side without hesitation.

The short walk to their B&B led them through the beautifully snow covered village. When they passed the old village store Barbara's pocket buzzed. She knew if it was important it would have ringed but she looked at it nonetheless. Winston had sent a message with a picture but without a comment. She needed none to make her smile.

"What is it?" Tommy asked and Barbara showed him a picture of them walking arm in arm. Winston must have taken the photo when they had walked past the front side of the police station. A small part of a window frame was seen at its edge.

"We're a beautiful couple."

"And you're vain."

Throwing back his head Tommy laughed out loud. "Have you told him?"

"That you're vain?"

"No. About us."

"He's seen our kiss in front of the cottage."

"Oh. And? Did he comment anything?"

"He was nosy and if it wasn't Winnie I'd say disrespectful. Cheeky sod." She grinned. "And he understood that it had been our first kiss." She blushed a bit when Tommy squeezed her shoulders. "But I reckon he's happy for us." For a moment Barbara thought about Winston. Then she snorted a laugh. "He acted like a boy having found out that his older sister is the girlfriend of the glorified neighbourhood champ."

"I'm glad that you are." Tommy winked at her. Walking on he gently rubbed his head across hers from the side.

"Yes." Barbara sighed.

* * *

The walk to their accommodation really was short, so even when they were walking slowly they reached it within minutes.

"Good morning, Miss."

"Oh." The young woman from the B&B looked up. She was carrying a tray with used breakfast dishes. "There you are! Your Constable was looking for you."

"Yes, thank you." DI Lynley answered politely. He and DS Havers were peeling themselves out of their winter clothes in the small entrance hall of the B&B. "He's found us. We had a little accident up at Willow's Weep and stayed there overnight."

"Oh, with Billy."

The Detectives just nodded nondescript and kept to themselves that the cottage was empty. A brief exchange of a very meaningful look made clear that the B&B staff member had to be interviewed later. "You know him?" Lynley asked.

"Sure. He's helped us with the garden last year."

"Always good to have skillful friends at hand, eh?" Nodding towards the tray in her hand Lynley asked if it was possible to have breakfast. "Or is it too late already? We didn't get any at the cottage."

"Ah, that's typical for Billy." the young woman laughed rolling her eyes. "Helpful but sometimes a bit weird. Yeah, sure. Take a seat and I'll bring you something. Full English?"

"Oh, yes, please." Barbara said fervently. "I'm starving."

"Toast, bacon, fried eggs? Anything special?"

Tommy smiled fondly at Barbara. "Beans would be nice."

"Mushrooms?" They both shook their heads. "I have fresh cumberland sausages from George. The butcher."

"That would be wonderful. And tomato, if you have." Barbara's ears turned slightly red when she felt Tommy's eyes on her again. He knew she rather disliked fried tomatos, in marked contrast to himself.

"Okay. Just take a seat. Bowls, milk and cereals are still on the shelf. Please help yourself." She turned towards the kitchen. "Oh, tea or coffee?"

"Tea." Barbara said.

"Coffee." Tommy said in the same moment.

Both blushed coyly and looked at each other.

"Okay, I'll make both." Laughing, the woman left them alone. She knew that the other mornings it was always the other way round.

* * *

"Since when do you want to have tea?" Tommy asked with a hint of amusement in his voice. He led her to a table at the window and set a chair in place for her. He held her shoulders when he bent down from behind to give Barbara a gentle kiss onto her left ear.

"I thought _you_'d prefer it." she said quietly. The kiss had caused a wonderful shiver of goosepimples on her skin. "But you obviously want coffee?"

"No, actually not." They grinned at each other understandingly, knowing they both had ordered for the other. "Corn flakes?"

"Rice Pops today. With a lot of sugar."

"I thought as much."

Barbara yawned and looked out of the window while Tommy made two bowls of cereals. She wondered if it would be like this from now on. At work they would go on as Inspector and Sergeant and she still was his subordinate so it would be very strange to have him attending her at the table in private, being the gentleman all over, a man doing everything for his beloved woman. She snorted a disbelieving laugh at that thought.

"Hm?" Tommy sat down on the opposite side of the table.

"Ah, I just..." Barbara blushed and avoided his curious stare.

"What?" he laughed invitingly.

"You're so... I mean, we've done a lot together. Theatre, stadium, fun fair, dinners and pints... But..." She munched on her rice pops while he waited patiently until Barbara found the right words. "I'm still not used to _that_ side of you. So... affectionately courteous." Still blushing she gave him a cute lopsided smile.

"Well, now that we know _the truth_..." Tommy took her hand with a smile. "...we're going to discover a lot of new sides, hm? We're going to learn a lot more from and about each other, I suppose." He winked. "At least I already know that you don't care about the side."

"Side?" Quizzically she cocked her head.

"Side." He nodded. After all she understood.

"Oh." She snickered briefly. "The _side_."

"And I know that you snore..."

"I do _not_ snore!"

"Mhm. And I know you're almost unbearable if you have no coffee in the morning." He placed the spoon in his still not empty bowl with Choccrispers and looked at Barbara. "I know your strange taste for ketchup, I know you'd swoon for Antonio Banderas, I know you like to place unusual bets on horses, I know that you don't care much that your hair is still messy." Barbara blushed and Tommy took her hand in his before she was able to try to tame her hair. "But I still don't know-"

* * *

"Sooo... here we are. Tea for Ms Havers... and coffee for Mr Lynley." The young woman grinned meaningful. "Breakfast will be ready in a bit."

The Detectives both smiled and nodded a silent thanks before the waitress left again. While she had placed the pots between them Tommy had not let go of Barbara's hand although she had tried to withdraw it. Without a word they now filled the other one's cup, one and a half spoons of sugar and a generous dash of milk in his tea, nothing but coffee in her coffee.

"I'm pretty sure that not a lot will change." Tommy said after a sip of tea.

"I'm pretty sure it will." Barbara hid her face behind the coffee cup. "The Inspector finally has cracked his Sergeant's barriers."

"Barbara!" He was genuinely indignant. "I haven't cracked your barriers!"

"Well, you have a reputation. Mind you, there has been a lot of talk, and not just about you."

"My love for you has nothing to do with my reputation." Tommy explained seriously. "Quite the contrary. And by the way, I don't give a damn about what other people might say about you and me. Because I know it isn't like that. It's beyond their imagination. It's wonderful and honest. And real."

"People _will_ talk." Barbara insisted. "And we're probably being split and that worries me a lot."

"I don't think so. We're a brilliant team. That we're teamed in private will only add to it." Tommy almost pouted.

Barbara sighed sadly. "The force-"

"Service..."

"Ah, pfft! The force might ignore it if we were of the same rank, and of lower ranks that is. We-"

"Pass your last exam."

* * *

They stared at each other for a while. Barbara had not let on a word that their Superintendent had forced her into finally starting to file for DI but Tommy obviously knew that there was just one final exam left. She was procrastinating it for more than half a year now. Not because she was afraid she would not pass it but because she would not want to leave their working partnership. She also was not afraid that she would have to lead her own team.

"I know you're able to lead your own team." Tommy said. Barbara swallowed. "And we don't have to give up working together. Maybe not as close as before but we certainly can support each other. And now we have something to look forward to for our after work time. You know, I don't mean just dinner or a pint."

"Sir..." Laboriously Barbara pushed away her empty cereal bowl, setting it precisely one inch next to the coffee pot. She knew exactly what he meant but it was strange to talk about it after only one kiss.

Tommy took her hand in his but she quickly withdrew it because in that moment the smell of bacon filled the air. "Here comes our angel!" Barbara welcomed the young woman with the breakfast tray.

"Anything else?" DI Lynley and DS Havers shook their heads. Two pairs of eyes were glued to the overflowing dishes. "Well... Enjoy your breakfast."

They ate in silence which was only once interrupted by a nervously chuckled "Tommy!" when he had started to play footsie under the table.

* * *

Afterwards they filled a third cup of tea - both this time, which earned Barbara a fond smile - and leant back in their chairs.

"This was so overdue." Barbara muttered. Her lazy hand patted her belly.

"It was." Tommy nodded. "And now? Are you going to have a nap first or a shower?"

"I guess, I'll drop on my bed and be asleep before I hit the mattress." To emphasise it Barbara barely hid her yawn. "And then I'll have a refreshing shower before we return to the station."

"Yes, that sounds alluring." He sighed. Barbara blushed and diverted her eyes to the white table cloth. He should not read her suddenly naughty mind. "I just wish we'd have the rest of the day for ourselves."

"That's what I wish." Their eyes locked. Hers were slightly widened and his were filled with a loving fondness. His not so appropriate thoughts were almost visible. Slowly his hand went across the table to hers. With a gentle touch he caressed her knuckles with the back of his fingers.

When he inhaled after what felt like the most wonderful silent minutes the Mistress of interruptions returned. "Did you enjoy your meal?" she asked innocently.

"Yes, thank you very much." Tommy answered with forced politeness. Much to his regret Barbara had folded her hands in her lap now.

"What's on the agenda for today?" The woman chatted as if she was talking to some tourists. "A nice walk in the remnants of snow? Or maybe a drive to Crangallion's Castle? I can recommend-"

"Nothing of that, in fact." DI Lynley interrupted her. "We're still investigating Marston's murder and since it was an eventful night with the accident, an unexpected power blackout at Willow's Weep and therefore a short and rather cold night, Miss Havers is quite tired and neither can I say that I'm well rested."

"Ah, a little nap it is." The woman turned to leave. "Yes, yes, I can understand that. Then sleep well. I'll make sure the house will be quiet."

"She's so helpful!" Barbara whispered sarcastically when she was out of earshot.

"She is. Don't be so sarcastic, Barbara." Tommy stood and held out a hand for Barbara. "Shall we?"

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	15. Chapter 15 3 3

**A/N: **I'd like to announce that parts of this chapter are a bit

**...**

spicy

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and for the appreciators there's an alternative chapter to this one. You know where to find it and you don't have to read tzhis one here ;-)

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They climbed the narrow stairs in silence. Barbara yawned and on the first landing Tommy gently stroked her back. They came past his door first and he stopped with the key in his hands.

"Have a nice nap, Barbara." His smile indicated that he expected her to stop for him.

Barbara did so and even took a cautious step closer. "Sleep well... Tommy."

Much to his surprise the next was not his initiative but hers. She stood on tiptoes and stretched her neck so he only had to lower his head a bit to give her a soft but strangely reluctant kiss. It was as if both hesitated to make another step, as if they lingered here before they went further. As if there was time needed so nobody would feel rushed. Tommy did not want to scare Barbara away with too much hastiness.

"I love you." he whispered.

"I love you too." She also whispered and looked shyly to the ground.

Only half a second later Barbara stood at her door and opened it. Tommy still waited at his without entering the room.

She caught his eyes once more. For ten seconds they did nothing but look at each other. Tiny movements with their heads, almost invisible narrowing of asking eyes, nostrils slightly flaring in surprise, widened looks of approval, imperceptibly raised eyebrows, amused twitches of the corners of their mouths - nobody else would ever be able to follow their silent conversations. This time they agreed that they both did not want to have the nap on their own. They wanted to feel each other's warmth like they had in the cottage.

"Yours or mine?" Tommy asked quietly when she had nodded almost invisibly.

"Mine."

Tommy let the door to his room fall into its lock and stepped towards Barbara.

* * *

Barbara held the door open for him and carefully locked it from inside. He had waited near her and now took her hand to give it a gentle kiss.

"I don't want to sleep alone." he explained almost apologetically, as if outside their looks had not said everything already.

"Me neither." she answered.

Simultaneously they made a step forward and embraced each other. It happened naturally and there was nothing hesitant in it anymore. Their last kiss, not the short peck on the corridor but their first and only real kiss, had been what felt like aeons ago and so now their lips crushed onto the other's with need.

**...**

Barbara made no secret of her longing. She dug her fingers into his side and her tongue awaited his just behind her lips. It was a surprise for Tommy but his hesitancy only lasted for a couple of moments. When the tips of their tongues met she immediately let hers slide along his and deeper into his mouth. His soft groan of surprise escaped into her lungs.

His arms crawled further around her body and they stood in a close embrace.

A long desireful kiss left them breathless after minutes. Barbara only inhaled as much oxygen as needed to whisper a "Gosh, Tommy!" onto his lips while she pressed herself against him. It surprised her as well as him.

"Oh my!" he breathed before they lost themselves in another kiss. He moved his body forward. Losing balance Barbara stepped backwards and bumped into the wall.

"Mmmh!" she moaned into the kiss and pulled at his waist. Tommy already had pressed himself forward to deepen the intensity of their touch. Out of the blue Barbara began to unbutton his shirt. Her fingers were hasty. Without looking she discarded her shoes. Then everything turned faster.

Manoevering their bodies towards her bed one piece of clothing after the other fell. They did not care where they tossed them.

Eventually they bumped into the mirror cabinet.

"I'm going to stall the nap." Tommy croaked and kissed her again. "If you agree, that is."

"Shut up." Barbara breathed. Now was not the time to ask for permission. It was clear that he had it. "I'm all but tired."

There still were some feet between cabinet and bed and on the short way they laughed - nervously, desireful, expectant - while they were hopping and pulling off their socks on their own. With the wood of the bed already touching his leg Tommy pulled Barbara back into his arms. He kissed her almost senseless.

Since she made no move further he pulled away the bedspread, guided her onto the bed and helped her lay down on the bow-taut duvet. He followed quickly and within moments they were sweating.

**...**

In the blissful aftermath they exchanged a deep and breathless kiss.

Eventually he chuckled nervously. "Barbara!" he whispered. "You have to believe me that I hadn't intended to-"

"Shhh!" Barbara put her index finger onto his lips. "I know. I hadn't planned it either."

"No. I mean this was a bit... rushed. Next time I'll-"

This time Barbara kissed him silent. "Oh, shush, will you! I don't intend to discuss _this_ right now." She yawned without opening her eyes. "Give us the blanket, right at the moment I only want to have a nap in your arms and forget about reality."

Smiling happily Tommy got up to pick up the bedspread from the floor, Barbara crawled around on the bed and in the end they snuggled up under the thin cover.

"This _is_ reality, Barbara." he whispered into her ear.

It was almost like they had slept on the sofa in Willow's Weep. Only this time they were naked and there was no need to get close. They were in fact hot but their warmth definitely did not come from the electric radiator.

It did not keep them from lying skin to skin.

* * *

When Barbara woke up after a healthy portion of sleep she felt Tommy's arm lying loosely around her waist. Her back was touching his front and from the steady breathing against her nape she knew that he was still asleep. Carefully she entangled her right leg from his and escaped his embrace with a sigh. He rolled over after waking up halfway.

"Where're you goin'?" he mumbled sleepily.

"I'm going to have a shower." Seeing his face turn into a bright smile with still closed eyes she added that she would do this on her own. "And you should go to your own room. It's almost two o'clock already."

"Please, just a minute, my love." he sighed and did not move at all, nor did he open his eyes.

On her way to the bathroom Barbara blushed deeply. She collected the clothes that were strewn all over the room from the door to her bed, folded his on a chair and tossed hers onto the heap she had planned to bring to the coin-op launderette today. The following long hot shower she was treating herself to was refreshing. She felt satisfied and exhausted and awake all at once.

* * *

Before she left the bathroom Barbara looked into the mirror and gave her reflection a disbelieving and satisfied smile. This actually had happened. Back in the bedroom she startled.

Tommy grinned broadly like a smug winner. He was still lying on her bed, his chest bare, his lower body covered by the thin bedspread, his arms folded behind his head. His eyes sized her up.

"You're still here!" she exclaimed wrapping her towel closer around her body.

"Well, I really had wanted to steal away and sneak to my room, but then..." He shrugged. "I was thinking of you under the shower, and honestly, I wouldn't want to present this to anyone else."

A slow movement of his hips caught her eyes. It made Barbara blush again. The bulge under the thin cover was unmissable.

"Sir!" she said with a husky voice. "We're not going to make use of it now. We have to get back to the station."

"I think DC Nkata will understand that we need _a lot_ of sleep after that restless night up there. Please come back to bed..." his voice turned darker. "...DS Havers."

"Tommy!" Barbara snickered nervously. "Don't be so kinky."

Instead of giving a reply Tommy just pulled away the bedspread.

Barbara sucked in the air. Just a few seconds of shock later and another moment of dismissing her second thoughts the towel fell to the ground.

Quite some time passed before she had a second shower and he finally hurried to his own room to put on fresh clothes.

* * *

"I only hope the house wasn't as silent as it is at the moment." Tommy whispered when they descended the creaking staircase.

"Oh, bugger." Barbara murmured. "How embarrassing if they all have heard us."

"The nice girl wouldn't-"

"Oh, hello!" The nice girl met them in the corridor downstairs. "Had a nice nap?"

Both were stunned. While Barbara only nodded, Tommy politely answered after he got over his shock. "Yes, thank you. But unfortunately work calls again."

"Ah, well, yes..." She lifted her arms full of well-pressed table cloths. "What a pity! See you later!"

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	16. Chapter 16 3 4

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Taking Barbara's gloved hand in his Tommy snickered after they had closed the door outside. He looked deep into her eyes and kissed the colourful wool. "Indeed, what a pity."

"Sir!" she hissed. "Stop being so..."

"Kinky?" he laughed teasing her. Barbara just groaned and rolled her eyes but she could not help but accept the small smile that crept into her face. They turned to walk down the road towards the police station but he did not let go of her hand. She rather liked it. It felt good to be with him.

"I was about to say lascivious, _Sir_!"

"You don't know all about me, my precious." Tommy informed her with a lot of amusement in his voice. "Well, you don't know _yet_. And, by the way, the way you have begun to call me Sir - that's what I'd call kinky."

"It's not." Barbara pouted.

"Oh, it is. There is a hint of... lasciviousness in it."

"Don't be ridiculous!" Barbara grinned.

"No, really! Nobody says it the way you do. I like it a lot." Tommy gave her a big complacent grin which made her laugh out loud.

"You're weird... _Sir_!"

"Rrrr! Yes! I am. And so are you."

Barbara laughed out loud.

* * *

They rounded the market cross where a big puddle was all that was left of the snow from the night. Only in shady driveways there were a few leftovers of the white stuff. Behind the old trough and the lime tree Tommy suddenly pulled Barbara into an embrace.

"If you'd know" he said "what you're doing to me..." He gave her a deep kiss she did not oppose. "You'd stop calling me _Sir_ in private as well as publicly!"

As if the desireful kiss had not happened he turned and walked on. Being caught by surprise and still a bit out of breath from his sudden kiss Barbara slightly stumbled but he held her hand safely.

"But everybody is calling you Tommy, Tommy." she explained grinning. "And if this... _privacy_... continues I need a proper term for you. In private. I'm going to call you Sir in public, of course."

"Because."

"Huh?"

"Because. _Because _this privacy continues." Tommy showed her a bright smile. "Actually I'd call it a _relationship_. And I don't intend to end it, so it's not _if_."

"Yeah, yah, relationship." Barbara smiled coyly but tried to overplay that meaningful word with a ridiculous suggestion. "I'm thinking about sweetheart. Or sweets. What about that?"

"That's horrible. Why not To-Tomm-m? With that nice accentuation you've given to the second syllable when I've hit your sweet spot earlier?"

"Tommy!" Barbara hissed reproachfully. Her face was beet red. "We're on the cemetery. Behave!"

* * *

They had just entered the small old cemetery with graves from the last century. It was a nice shortcut on the way to the police station although it only cut it short by a minute. It was nicer to walk here on the quiet ground and more private between huge trees and bushes. They fell silent for a few yards.

"Barbara, you know... I've meant it." Tommy squeezed her hand.

"You've meant what?

"That I don't intend to end our relationship."

"Tommy, we're only at the beginning-"

He quickly cut her short. "And I already know that I want to spend my life with you."

"Mh." It was all she had to say to his confession because she knew that their relationship on the new level was in fact only starting and of course she would not want to end it so soon, of course she would not want it to end at all, but she believed that _endless_ was something everybody would say in that state. Actually she thought that they were too different. It probably would not last forever when real life would start to come across, when his world finally clashed with hers in full.

* * *

As if he had heard her thoughts Tommy sighed and stopped between a giant rhododendron and a bush of straggled and ragged Chinese yew. He pulled her close to his chest and gave her a kiss. At least it brought a smile on her worried face.

"Is that all you have to say to it? A simple 'Mh!'?" he tenderly asked.

Barbara shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know what else I could say. It's... I'd rather not talk about future things right now. It's all too new."

"Isn't it marvellous, what we have now, since our confessions at the cottage?" Embracing her he gently swayed.

"Yes, it is, but-"

His lips silenced her. "As I said: there is no but that counts for me. I love you."

"I love you t- Tommy, stop!" Her eyes widened in shock. Taking her hands in his Tommy had made a step backwards and was about to kneel down. "No! Don't!"

He did not stop. He knelt down. "Yes." He was kneeling on his right knee and gave her gloved hand another kiss without taking his eyes from hers. With a besotted smile he nodded. "Barbara Havers..."

"Tommy, get up! If somebody sees you!" She had to stop him before he was saying something in the spur of the moment that he would regret later. He should not go on. Barbara feared what was to come.

"Even if the whole world was watching - I have to do this." He did not let himself be deterred by her words and started again. "Barbara Havers. Would you do me the honour-"

"Tommy!" she squealed almost horrified. Barbara pulled at his hand to get him up from his knee. She was frightened; about the coming question, about her answer, about all the emotions that suddenly besieged her.

Tommy chuckled nervously. "You're not making it easy for me, Barbara. Could you please stand still and listen to my words?"

A few seconds passed before she answered with a thin voice. "I'm scared." she confessed.

* * *

"And I'm positive you'll manage it." His words were firm and reassuring. "_We_'ll manage it. We've managed so many stumbling moments in our life. Moments we both managed, together, and it makes me confident that we're going to manage the rest of them too."

More seconds passed without her saying anything. She just looked into his eyes and although she was not very experienced in such matters she knew she was looking straight into his soul. She could see his confidence. She could see his love for her. She could see his patience. He just smiled and waited.

"You ruin your fine trousers." Barbara choked eventually. Emotions have overwhelmed her but Tommy knew he was allowed to finish his question.

"I don't mind. Barbara Havers." he started once more. "I know, it appears to be a bit early for such a question, but..." Tommy earned a lopsided smile from Barbara. "Would you do me the honour to accept my hand in a life-time relationship?"

She finally had to chuckle about his choice of words but seeing him inhale she let him go on holding his speech.

"I know that we have very different upbringings. Have a different education. Lived in different social environments. We've spent our lifes in almost completely different worlds and still there are so many resemblances. We share a lot and I want to share even more. I want to share my life with you until the very end. In fact I want to marry you and not only that but marry you as soon as possible. I don't want to waste anymore time. It could even be today if the registrar has a few minutes of spare time in his appointment book for us."

Now Barbara had to laugh and he felt reassured that he was on the right path when he saw tears brimming in her happy eyes. Still she had that hint of doubt in her eyes.

* * *

His voice turned from enthusiastic to tender. "I want to have little Barbs and little Tommys with you and I want them to be legal. I want you to wear a tiara on boring old-fashioned functions at Howenstow."

Barbara choked a quiet "Never!" at the mentioning of a tiara and he winked. He had not meant that seriously.

"But beautiful gowns at least. By my side, as my countess. I want to be the proud man... I want to be the proudest man on earth and I'll be when you have accepted my offer. I offer you my heart, my soul, my life. I want you to ruin my garden, I want you to untidy my house, I want you to spend my money-"

Finally Barbara was not able anymore to hold back her laughter. "Oh, Tommy!" she said tenderly and laughed again although two tears already rolled down her cheeks.

"So, now that I have your full attention: Barbara..." After a short pause deep love filled his words. "Will you marry me?"

"Get up, you idiot!" She still laughed. Although these were not the words he had wanted to hear Tommy got up with cracking knees. A boisterous grip with two soft woollen hands pulled his face down to hers and Barbara kissed him deeply. Minutes later she let him escape again.

"Was this just overboarding amusement or an answer?" he panted. "Was this a yes?"

Barbara laughed again. "Yes!" She was as breathless as Tommy. "It's a yes! Although I still don't kno- Mmmh!"

His lips crushed down on hers. Then happiness overpowered him and he had to twirl her around. "Ooooh! That's good! Because I don't know about our future either and I'm happily looking forward to explore it together with you." He let her down to the ground. "You know, I was serious with our children to be legal and maybe our unprotected encounter-"

"Oh, god forbid!" she chuckled nervously. "I'm forty!"

"So, the sooner, the better, hm?" Barbara blushed and her head turned to the Chinese yew. Unperturbed Tommy crooked a finger under her chin to turn her face towards his again. "Barbara, the only other thing I have to know: Was it a yes to life-time relationship or to marriage?

* * *

Barbara hesitated for a moment. Tommy looked into her eyes, again patiently waiting, the palm of his hand cupping her cheek and his thumb stroking her skin. The images of a shared future passed her inner eye. What he had pictured earlier was alluring but she also knew there would still be a lot of barriers to crush down, a lot of differences to overcome.

"You know that we will go on fighting over a lot of things?" she quietly asked.

Tommy nodded. "I know and I look forward to it. We always bicker and argue. And we always found a way and we always will. It's been like this and it won't stop."

"You're so confident about it..."

"Yes, I am."

More seconds passed in which Barbara silently debated with herself before she made a decision. Her gloved hand wiped across her cheek to dry away the tears.

"Marriage." she simply said.

"I love you." The kiss he gave her was soft and longing and it sealed his proposal.

Suddenly in the distance the old rusty gate to the cemetery squeaked and announced other people on the grounds near them.

"Come, my dear fiancée." He kissed her laughing lips one last time before he wiped away the last tear from her other cheek. "We have a case to solve and I suppose the Constables will send the cavalry if we're running late again."

* * *

Back at the police station a bit later than planned in the morning Barbara tried not to let on what life-changing things had happened in the past few hours of privacy. She entered the office with a simple "Hiya! We're back." that was only a little too cheery. She pulled off her anorak and hung it next to Tommy's fine padded coat, took off her scarf and went to her desk as usual.

Almost as usual.

Nkata sat behind his computer and watched her closely. There was a certain swing in her step. Barbara radiated satisfaction and happiness and even more, but she sat down with only a small smile towards him. When she booted her computer Winston let his eyes wander to his boss. DI Lynley stood at the whiteboard and was already writing down a name in brackets. Winston was not able to see his face but the big wet stain on his right knee was unmissable.

Winston's mouth turned into the widest and juiciest of grins. Turning towards Barbara he gave a short laugh and nodded appreciatively. She replied his gaze, quizzically cocking her head but knowing that he already had understood. A light blush appeared on ther cheeks. Winnie's grin turned even wider.

"We're so going to celebrate after work!" he said to her. "You bet!"

* * *

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**A/N: **That bit of fluff didn't hurt, eh? ;-) I hope you enjoyed it. If so, feel free to leave a comment. Thanks for reading.

**Tess**


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